In my quest for ways to make a little more money (until Daniel teaches me how to break into the world of Mystery Shopping ^__^) I'm considering selling Pretty Blue Salwar merch.
It'll be like selling Girl Scout Cookies; my family will buy some because they're related to me, and the rest of you might buy because you like me. Or because you hate to turn away a Girl Scout.
Before I sign up with CafePress, I thought I would test the waters.
Would anyone reading this actually consider purchasing a t-shirt/sweatshirt/baby doll tee/hoodie emblazoned with any of the following slogans?
1. "What's in your tiffin-carrier?" (Image: Tiffin carrier.)
2. "Life is a continuous travelogue." (Image: None, but a really pretty font.)
3. "Nothing's wrong with eating weevils! Paharganj 2007" (Image: Cereal bowl with cartoon weevils poking their heads out. Also a spoon.)
4. "I Survived The Punjab" (Image: State of Punjab with Amritsar starred. If we want to go all double-entendre and Punjabi pride, I could put this one on a thong.)
If any of this interests you (interest does not mean "commitment to buy"), let me know and I'll get the designs up this weekend.
If none of this interests you, then... I may be putting ads up on the blog pretty soon. ^__^
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Just In Time For Some Of The Holidays (and very early for next year's Diwali!)
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12 comments:
@Thambi
One more tip : That kind of rudeness does not a gentleman make.
If you did like the shirts but did not take too well to the context of the seller, would you still buy them ?
One interested person.
While it's quite alright to make ends meet - artists have to pay their bills too - I honestly don't know how much of a market you'll capture. Hmmm...Indians from India would not get it because those situations don't seem humorous to them (just as most Americans find nothing particularly noticeable about bib-overall-wearing Midwestern farmers, something that my parents found completely and utterly charming when we drove them through Kansas ). I don't know if most Americans have heard about the Punjab except in the vaguest of general ways. Perhaps you might sell this merchandise to American Born Desi's who have travelled to those places as insider/outsiders when visiting family in India? You have to find your market first before you decide to go ahead with production.
I'm not sure where this animosity is coming from, thambi. If you don't like Blue's blog, don't read it. You must really hate it to keep posting on it. Just know that if you insist on attacking Blue, you're going to have a fight on your hands. I'd suggest you stop before you get in too deep.
thambi,
Why do you keep reading the "stupid" books, stories, weblogs, etc. then? What's the point of making yourself even angrier? Why *not* let white people go to India, have their *magical experiences*? Who cares? Wouldn't it be a better use of your time and efforts to promote another view of India instead of just ragging on Blue's blog?
Cultural appropriation occurs all over America. It's what we do. We love other cultures because American culture itself is so sparse. Don't think that Indian culture is unique in being appropriated by Americans. We eat at Taco Bell and have Cinco de Mayo ceremonies. We've changed Chinese food and made it our own; Americans love anime, we watch and show British TV shows all the time, and the list goes on and on. So Blue likes Bollywood and curry. Big deal. Let her. And stop being mean.
"All these people like Blue do is present a narrow, one sided and myopic vision of India back for Western Cultural consumption, so more of you can oppress and denigrate us."
Aaah man ! Where have I heard this before ?
Next time we hear of Thambi, she/he will have won a seat to the Indian parliament on a CPI ticket or a BJP ticket. Or damn it, any political party will do !!
Actually, I have been called out for a few idiotic-due-to-uninformedness things I've written on this blog, and I've changed and deleted posts accordingly.
The difference is that I was not attacked.
I started this blog in the spirit of educating myself about India through mutual dialogue. I never meant for it to be a blog in which I presented myself as an Indian "authority." Even in my travel narrative I tried to describe what I saw as only one individual's experience.
In my first blog post I wrote:
"Undoubtedly I will be seeing everything with new eyes, with tourist eyes, with little-white-girl-in-a-blue-salwar eyes. But that's not exactly what I want this blog to be about. I want to understand this trip, culturally and contextually, as well as I can. That's where I need your help."
I'm sorry my writing has angered you so.
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