The ghadar editorial poses two questions: what is the connection between the burgeoning of marriage and the widening reach of US imperialism? Secondly, why has the desi left, with all its anti-imperialist politics and coalition building strategies, remained silent on the issue of marriage?

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The past few years have seen an onslaught of the celebration of Indians on the global scene, Indians who seem endlessly and perfectly, shaped, clad and versed. Who are the consumers of these images? What desires do these images represent and encode for them, and what hidden assumptions and forms of common sense support the emergence of this gorgeous, infallible and entirely unrealisable global Indian subject, and what does globalization have to do with it? Most crucially, what is the reality that this celebratory and self-congratulatory cosmopolitanism masks? Shefali Chandra and Saadia Toor offer some answers through the seemingly incongruous juxtaposition of two films - Gurinder Chaddha’s ‘Bride and Prejudice’, and Ali Kazimi’s ‘Runaway Grooms'

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Discussing the recently, and widely received television serial Moorat, Ayaz Ahmed draws attention to the street based, working class culture depicted in the show, the unexpected spectrum of otherwise undeveloped emotions and sentiments that it evokes from its viewers, and the refreshing absence of the 'air conditioned classes'.

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Money, patriarchy and religion come together in an unholy triumvirate in India's celebration of marriage. The marriage-industrial complex, anchored in the country's already oppressive cultural and religious core, is strengthening and complementing their existing hetronormative vice on society. Why is this oppressive institution gaining increasing currency even as it is obviously used for the criminalization and marginalization of non-normative sexualities (and indeed women themselves)? Shivali Tukdeo deconstructs the insidious and symbiotic relationship of institutionalized marriage and how it permeates the Indian bourgeois and ruling classes.

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Marriage was one of the central "moral" issues in the run-up to last year's presidential elections. Since homophobia formed the basis of the opposition to gay/lesbian marriage, supporting the latter seemed equivalent to supporting queer liberation. Manish Vaidya helps us see through this false dichotomy; fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride.

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Ra Ravishankar provides a personal account of dealing with the institution of marriage, at the same time highlighting the caste, class and gender dimensions of perpetuating heterosexist and normative marriages. He also identifies the normative to be the site of oppression and inequites.

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In the context of the recent protests during Musharraf’s visit to the US, Sahar Shafqat draws our attention to the desi coalition building. While hoping for the much-needed solidarity against misogyny and violence, this piece highlights the difficult task of articulating our progressive protests without giving in to the imperialist agenda.

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How does the self-avowed, multicultural agenda of the US academy recognise and misrecognise the position, critique and voice of the queer-of-colour, female, immigrant? In this sensitive first person account, Umeeta Sadarangani pries open the relation between pedagogy, politics, identity and personal history as they intersect in the context of the US classroom, drawing attention to the multiple struggles against normativity and exoticism that she must enact at every moment of her pedagogic role.

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Tamil film star Khushboo’s comments in favor of pre-marital sex were volatile enough to enrage the cultural purists in Tamil Nadu. Ra Ravishankar explores the role of the Tamil film industry in enforcing patriarchal morality and creating and sustaining gendered stereotypes.

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What would be our reaction if water sustainability programs or campaigns against water privatization are housed by the Coca-Cola Corporation? Bizarre as it sounds; Bradley Cardozo's piece documents the recent takeover of Cornell Migrant Program (CMP) by corporate agribusinesses.  Exposing the nexus between academy and corporations, this piece brings to surface issues of race, immigrant labor and new ways of campus and community organizing.

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Cornell officials attempt to attract students by advertising that they can bring their cars and park in convenient locations. One of which is "one of the prettiest parking lots in the Northeast" and "MUCH prettier than that ill-kept woods".

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Where have all the South Asians (in the diaspora) gone? Given their rich heritage of fighting and winning battles against white colonialism, why are they silent in the wake of the United States' imperial advances? Sher Khan Bahadur gives the contours of a desi coalition that's seeking to answer these questions and build a broad anti-imperialist movement.

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