Author Archives

• Why the fear around “ethnic enclaves” and fewer White faces in Metro Vancouver?

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on April 5, 2013 • ( 23 )

  

  If you are reading this on your handheld device, please sit down and put your device on a table, lest you drop it and break it. Here’s the scariest news to come out this week: Whites will become the minority… Read More ›

• Guest blog: Bollywood extravaganza TOIFA comes to Vancouver — on the backs of South Asian women

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on March 22, 2013 • ( 0 )

  

  First came the Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA) announcement. Interestingly, the timing of the awards couldn’t be politically better: to be held on April 06,  just ahead of the B.C. provincial elections on May 14, the star-studded show has… Read More ›

• Patriarchy and racism give birth to rape culture, not a drunk woman or her miniskirt

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on March 19, 2013 • ( 24 )

  The 16-year old Steubenville rape victim went through a horrifying rape ordeal – she was raped, tossed around like a sex toy, photographed and mocked at. It just didn’t happen once and stopped, but it happened again and again, countless… Read More ›

• You think you know how to breathe? Wrong. Let Yoga teach you correct breathing

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on March 15, 2013 • ( 8 )

  Who would have thought with the progress of science and technology, human beings would lose the basic tech-how of life – the skill of breathing? Yes, breathing: the simple body process where air moves in and out of lungs. It… Read More ›

• Yoga: so you thought it was all about getting into downward dog or headstand? Read on:

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on February 28, 2013 • ( 16 )

  I call myself a yogini, a practitioner of Yoga. Technically, I also am a certified Yoga teacher. Starting from this post, I am introducing the category “Yoga” on my blog. Through writings under this category, I will try and dispel… Read More ›

• Gender equality: When a man and a woman are just friends, who should pay for lunch?

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on February 10, 2013 • ( 10 )

  Last week I posted a poll on my Facebook page. Titled, “When out on a casual luncheon with a guy friend, do women still expect the guy to pay the bill? Do men get offended when a woman friend picks… Read More ›

• Reject “girl things” and “boy things”. Sex organs don’t dictate nurturing or adventure

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on January 23, 2013 • ( 27 )

  

  “Look mom, Kabir is pretending to be a mommy”, my then four-year old daughter pointed enthusiastically at her year-old brother, who lovingly pushed a doll stroller around the living room. He had carefully placed a toy baby in. My first… Read More ›

• Call us desi if you want to. We have big hearts and a lot of candy for Halloween

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on October 29, 2012 • ( 10 )

  First, the desi story: Who is a desi (pronounced they-see)? In the Canadian colloquial use, the word desi has come to denote, one of South Asian-heritage. Literally, desi, a Hindi/Punjabi word means an indigenous person. In the Canadian context, since… Read More ›

• Bhangra: stop cultural stereotyping of Punjabis

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on September 30, 2012 • ( 16 )

  How do you tell a Canadian of Punjabi heritage to step out and take a walk? Going by David Suzuki Foundation: wear a bhangra outfit, put on Punjabi music and invite Punjabis to explore nature in their mother tongue –… Read More ›

• Mangoes: a slice of immigrant life, South Asian style

  By Anu Sandhu Bhamra on August 13, 2012 • ( 13 )

  Downtown Toronto. Fresh snow on the ground. A young man of about 20 on a sidewalk. He is dressed like any Canadian young man, except his tee with the word Pakistan written across, in all caps, is not too subtle…. Read More ›