Review: Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones

A memoir about Kashmir and beyond

On Instagram there's an account called Brief But Spectacular, where a short video gives an opportunity for someone to talk about their life or life experience, and some are so profound, others informative or heartfelt.

One post featured Priyanka Mattoo, who talked about how she was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, and has vivid memories of growing up in the mountainous Himalayan area before a violent rebellion against India erupted in 1989.

Her family left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which they thought would be temporary, but led to exile in London, then Michigan, and eventually Los Angeles.

Mattoo now lives in Los Angeles

Mattoo wrote a book called Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones and I was intrigued enough by her short video to borrow the memoir from the library.

The "chapters" are actually a series of essays that were published in the New York Times and The New Yorker mostly, and it would have been better to note this in the forward, and that while each essay was a part of her memoir, it was not in chronological order.

As a result, I was surprised to see the stories, times and places jumping around and it was hard to keep track. 

Nevertheless, she has fond memories of her grandparents, particularly her maternal grandfather, who instructed his daughters, nieces and Mattoo, his granddaughter to be strong-headed and independent. She also talks lovingly of her parents who adore each other, and how Mattoo hoped she too would find a nice Kashmiri boy and settle down like them.

Throughout the book Mattoo pines for Kashmir, while her parents have decided to make the best of each place they settle in. Is it because she felt her idyllic childhood was violently snatched from her? Or she is nostalgic at a young age?

Then as she grows up she is a bright student, but when it comes to university, she wants to please her parents and study law, and while she manages to complete her degree, it's not exactly what she wants to do. 

She ends up with another degree in Italian with a stint living in Rome. Eventually she wants to write and ends up in Hollywood, but the hustle is not fun. That said, she meets a nice Jewish boy at a networking event and ends up marrying him, both her career and love life turn out exactly not what she had envisioned when she was younger. But isn't that the case with most people?

It's her last chapter, Someone Else's Spiders that is the best essay summing up her reflections on her identity. Mattoo also talks about how ethnic groups are treated in Hollywood, reminding me of Christopher Cheung's Under the White Gaze, where in her case, she is frustrated that non-Indians come up with movie storylines, while her ideas of more compelling stories are rejected.

Mattoo's writing style is chatty and at times funny, particularly when it comes to her dating experiences, but it's her cultural explanations that are interesting to read.

However, we never do learn what bird milk and mosquito bones are about...

Canadian Victoria Mboko Stuns Coco Gauff in Montreal

Mboko excited with her stunning upset over No. 1 seed Gauff

Canadian women's tennis has gotten more exciting these days, and tonight may be a sign of what's to come.

Torontonian Victoria Mboko, who is 18 years old, definitively defeated No. 1 seed Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 in a stunning upset at the National Bank Open in Montreal today.

Mboko, who climbed from No. 333 to No. 85 this year, crushed the American in only 62 minutes, and advances to the quarterfinals on Monday.

Gauff (left) beat Mboko in May at Italian Open

The teenager entered this tournament as a wild card and is the last Canadian standing in the singles draw, for both men and women.

Mboko thrilled the sold-out crowd in Montreal with her deft placements of the ball, making it near impossible for Gauff to return.

When Gauff had an enforced error, leading to Mboko's victory, she covered her face with her hands, in shock that she'd done it.

"I don't even know what to say still," she told reporters an hour afterwards.

"I was kind of shocked about it all. Everything kind of came so fast. There were so many people. I feel like tonight I'll let it soak in a bit more, but I'm still kind of on a high, a little bit.

"I'm super happy, and I'm just really content with how things went today and that I get to move on to the next round." 

Three months earlier Gauff beat Mboko at the Italian Open in Rome and today the teen said she had flashbacks of that match.

Mboko in shock, crowd shouted in delight

"I just remember when she kind of came out playing even better and stepped it up a bit better when I played her in Europe, I was thinking about that. I kind of wanted to step my game up a little bit more and make sure I matched whatever she was producing and I wanted to stay right there with her."

Mboko sure did and more, while Gauff could not find her rhythm, with several enforced errors.

Now Mboko is waiting to see who the winner will be in the match-up between Zhu Lin of China and Jessica Bouzas Maniero of Spain.

Canadians Avoid US Travel, and Airlines Scramble

Air Canada is pivoting to fewer US flights, more to Europe

As many Canadians have recently decided not to travel to the United States, either declaring this in polls or by cancelling trips, resulting in a drop of some 13 percent by air, airlines are scrambling to meet domestic demand and fewer routes across the border.

For example, WestJet is adding more flights to "markets of strength", including Europe, and sun destinations like Mexico and Cuba.

Air Canada says as of mid-March, transborder bookings were down about 10 percent for the next six months. As a result the airline is adjusting some of its US flights by using smaller aircraft and reducing frequencies of flights.

The Canadian airline has added a new route for summer, Montreal to Edinburgh, and increased the number of flights to Paris, Rome and Athens.

Meanwhile, Discover Airlines, owned by Lufthansa, will launch a Calgary-Munich route. 

Porter Airlines is also reducing its summer service to the US and shifting to domestic markets.

Mike Arnot, a spokesman for airline analytics firm Cirium says it's unusual to see such a significant dip in demand for Canada-US travel.

"It's a tough place for the airlines to be," he said.

Cirium analyses data from travel agencies and booking websites, and found summer bookings between major Canadian cities and popular US destinations dropped nearly 20 percent compared to last year.

But bookings for July between popular Canadian destinations increased by about 11 percent compared to 2024.

However, if people are still keen on traveling to the US, they might be able to take advantage of lower air fares, perhaps at the beginning of May, says aviation expert John Gradek.

And strangely, you can thank American President Donald Trump for that.

The Mystery of the Missing Karsh Portrait Solved

The Roaring Lion has been found... in Italy

My father is a photo enthusiast and loves taking pictures. When I was young he told me about the famous Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer and showed me his famous pictures in two books he had.

There was then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, actress Sophia Loren, scientist Albert Einstein, and actress Audrey Hepburn. They are striking photographs because they are usually minimalist backgrounds and focus on the subject's face and their expressions. It was an honour to "be Karshed".

Karsh is best known for the Churchill portrait

But perhaps the most famous portrait is that of then British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, which was taken after he addressed the Canadian Parliament during World War II on December 30, 1941. 

Right after his speech, Karsh took the portrait of Churchill in the Speaker's Chamber during a very quick photo session.

As the story goes, Karsh asked Churchill to take the cigar out of his mouth, but he refused. So just before Karsh took the picture, he plucked the cigar out of the prime minister's mouth and got that grumpy, stern expression.

After the photo shoot, Churchill said: "You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed," which led to the name of this portrait.

Karsh and his wife lived in the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa for many years where he also had a studio, and when they moved out, they gifted a signed copy of the Roaring Lion to the hotel along with other portraits that were hung in public areas for visitors to admire.

Estrellita Karsh in front of the portrait

But sometime between December 25, 2021 to January 6, 2022 the Roaring Lion was brazenly stolen from the hotel and replaced with a slightly smaller replica.

In May 2022, Italian lawyer Nicolas Cassinelli unknowingly bought the portrait from a Sotheby's online auction for around 5,000 euros, or over C$9,000.

The portrait hung it in his house in Genoa, Italy, and Cassinelli today told the media it was like having the Mona Lisa in his living room.

It wasn't until August 2022 when a hotel maintenance worker who worked there for decades, noticed there was something different about the portrait and reported it stolen. Ironically the police told him he was considered a suspect, as the authorities thought it was an inside job.

Last October Cassinelli was contacted by Sotheby's warning the Canadian police were investigating the theft and would need to look at the photograph, as it may have been stolen.

The apartment in the hotel the Karshes lived in

However it wasn't until February 2024 that police verified he had the stolen picture.

Yesterday it was announced Jeffrey Iain James Wood, a 43 year-old from Powassan, Ontario, was arrested in April on multiple charges, including theft, forgery and trafficking stolen property.

In the meantime Cassinelli will travel from Genoa, Italy to Rome to formally return the portrait to the Canadian consulate this weekend and then it will be brought back to the Chateau Laurier where it will be rehung.

Cassinelli was only reimbursed about half of what he paid for the photograph, but he is taking it in stride and says he has an interesting story to tell about his brief time with Karsh's portrait.

Grazie mille Cassinelli and we are looking forward to Churchill coming back to Ottawa! 

Cardinal Zen to Fly to Rome, Chinese Raring to Party in HK

Zen allowed to travel to Rome to attend former pope's funeral

A bit of good news coming out of Hong Kong -- the courts have allowed Cardinal Joseph Zen to fly to Rome to attend the funeral of former pope Benedict at the Vatican.

Zen's lawyers made the application in a closed-door hearing at West Kowloon Court, asking for the former bishop's passport so that he could attend the unprecedented funeral that will be held on Thursday morning local time.

Former pope Benedict passed away on Saturday in a monastery on December 31 at the age of 95. He was the first pope in almost 600 years to resign citing failing health. He stepped down in 2013 after succeeding John Paul II in 2005.

Zen's application met no objections in court

It is understood that Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen, one of the jurists approved by Hong Kong's Chief Executive to oversee national security proceedings, had allowed Zen to travel between Wednesday and Sunday, after the prosecution raised no objection.

When Zen returns to Hong Kong he must surrender his passport to the police. He is believed to be the first person arrested on suspicion of a national security law offence to be allowed to travel while under investigation.

Wonder if Zen will be able to meet with Pope Francis to talk? 

It's a slim hope...

Meanwhile China is not pleased that other countries have imposed negative Covid-19 tests on its citizens when they travel to places like Canada, Australia, the United States, Italy, and Malaysia to name a few.

China claims it may retaliate.

However, anyone travelling to China needs to show a negative polymerase chain reaction or PCR test, so what's the difference?

Chinese Blackpink fans eager to see them in HK

Nevertheless, it looks like many Chinese residents will travel to Hong Kong to party.

Many have snapped up tickets way above the listed price to see South Korean girl group Blackpink, who will be performing at Asia-World Expo from January 13-15. Tickets were sold out within two hours in November and many were being resold by scalpers. 

One ticket bought for HK$2,999 (US$383,60) is now on sale for HK$25,000, which includes a seat that is 13 rows from the stage and VIP access to the group's pre-show rehearsal and other benefits.

Others are keen to attend the music festival Clockenflap that was unable to hold shows for three years. The three-day event will now be staged in early March (previously it was in mid-November). 

Mando-pop stars JJ Lin and Jay Chou will also be having concerts in Hong Kong in March and August respectively.

And these are only the people who want to fly to Hong Kong to attend concerts. What about those eager to shop and eat?

Hope everyone there has their bivalent vaccine shots...

Vatican Caught in Bind with Cardinal Zen

Zen holding mass at Holy Church Cross in eastern Hong Kong

Hours after retired Cardinal Joseph Zen appeared in court to answer to the charge of not registering the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund with the government, he held mass at the Holy Cross Church in Sai Wan Ho.

Many who came to see him dismissed the charge against him.

"We of course must respect the rule of law but wielding law as a weapon to oppress is by no means the goal of rule of law," a woman named Louise told AFP.

Zen along with four others pleaded not guilty

In his sermon, Zen again criticised a deal between China and the Vatican in 2018 which allows Beijing to nominate bishops for the pope's approval, calling it "unwise" despite being made with "good intentions".

The agreement was renewed in 2020 just as China was accused of suppressing Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Christian believers of underground churches.

At that time two years ago despite the pandemic, Zen traveled to Rome in the hopes of speaking to Pope Francis and persuade him not to renew the deal, but was not even granted an audience with the pope.

Vatican analyst and papal biographer Marco Politi says: "The Holy See does not want this thread of dialogue and communication [with China] to be broken. "It is clear that China is in a position of strength and the Vatican in a position of weakness."

After Zen's arrest on May 11, the Vatican has been relatively silent, and Pope Francis said he was "attentively" following the "often complex" life of Catholics in China without directly referencing Zen.

But up until this point, veteran Vatican commentator John L Allen said Zen had become "increasingly marginalised" in the Francis papacy.

Zen was rebuffed by Pope Francis in 2020

"Had China done nothing, Zen likely would have remained inconsequential," he wrote on the Catholic website Crux.com.

"Now, however, Francis can't afford to ignore Zen, because his arrest -- and whatever may come next in terms of a prosecution and even possible incarceration -- is destined to generate sympathy and activism on Zen's behalf all across the world."

Pope Francis may have wished he had granted Zen an audience, but it's too late now.

Either way he cannot ignore the seriousness of the situation Zen is in and pray that the rule of law will have mercy on him...