New Indian Restaurant bears Hitler's name

[n2doc]

Wonder if they will franchise it here...:sarcasm:

New restaurant bears Hitler's name

By AIJAZ ANSARI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


Customers leave after visiting 'Hitler's Cross' a restaurant at Kharghar, New Bombay, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Bombay, India, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006. Hitler's Cross, a four-day old restaurant has riled the small Jewish community in India's financial capital, but its owner has no plans to make amends. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh)


BOMBAY, India -- When Hitler's Cross restaurant opened four days ago in a Bombay suburb, local politicians and movie industry types were on hand to celebrate beneath the posters of the Nazi leader and swastikas. The owner insisted then - and still does - that the name and theme of his new eatery is only meant to attract attention, even if it has outraged Bombay's Jewish community. "It's really made people very upset that a person responsible for the massacre of 6 million Jews can be glorified," Elijah Jacob, one of the community's leaders, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

But owner Puneet Sablok has refused to back down, and apart from Bombay's 4,500 Jews, there's been little controversy in India, where Holocaust awareness is limited, Hitler is regarded as just another historical figure and swastikas are an ancient Hindu symbol, displayed all over to bring luck. There are just 5,500 Jews in all of India. "It's just to attract people. There is no intention to hurt anyone," said Sablok about his spacious restaurant, which serves pastries, pizza and salad in Navi Mumbai, a northern suburb of Bombay, which is also known as Mumbai.

Those objecting to the restaurant plan to ask the local government to force a name change, said Daniel Zonshine, Israel's consul general in Bombay."Instead of Hitler's name being an example of extreme evil, this is like giving legitimacy to Hitler. It's not right to advertise his name in public," Zonshine said. But while India is ordinarily sensitive to causing religious offense - recently taking action to bar "The Da Vinci Code" movie and cartoon drawings of the prophet Muhammad - at least one local leader said the name Hitler didn't bother him.


"People are unnecessarily making this into an issue," said Sudhir Jadhav, a local ruling party leader. "We have no plans to protest outside the restaurant or ask him to change the name." Diners were also quite happy eating in Hitler's Cross. "Hitler was a bad man, but what's wrong with having food here?" said Ashwini Phadnis, 22, a microbiology student as she tucked away a piece of chocolate cake. Engineering student Anand Dhillon sat with friends, sipping soft drinks. "I think the name is quite interesting. Tomorrow if someone keeps a name like Saddam Mutton Shop or George Bush Footwear, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?" he shrugged.

[nam78_two]

1. wtf???!!!!

:wtf:

And...this:
there's been little controversy in India, where Holocaust awareness is limited, Hitler is regarded as just another historical figure and swastikas are an ancient Hindu symbol

:wtf:

[Kagemusha]

3. Israel's bad PR of late has real-world consequences.

Though it is true that swastikas are indeed an ancient symbol in that part of the world. I'm not sure I'd classify it as "Hindu" per se, though. The speculation and research I'd only passingly heard of suggested more ethnic roots; the British weren't the first foreigners to take the place over, see. Selecting it as an "Aryan" symbol was not purely accidental. But at any rate, I don't think that's really the point here.

I think they're just not interested in getting worked up because of Jewish outrage right now. Of course, governments tend to listen more than citizens when this sort of thing is concerned.

[JHB]

11. Swastikas may be ancient Hindu/Buddhist symbols, but...

...the restaurant isn't tying it in with their religious traditions, they're tying it to Hitler!

[Canuckistanian]

2. I wonder what would happen

If someone opened up the "Black Hole of Calcutta Café"?

[redherring]

4. No justification whatsoever

However, given the fact that Hindus see the swastika as a sacred symbol, the usage of Swastika without using Hitler's name may not be anti-semitic. The swastika is found everywhere in Indian temples. The picture above is quite alarming nonetheless.

[Bob3]

7. If I remember correctly the Swastikas in temples

are not tilted like the Nazi swastika is. The same goes for the Navajo who use it was symbol of the earth. But Hitler and the Nazi's are forever linked to the Swastika. To use it now is f##king obscene.

however on a lighter note - MST3K once showed a japanese SciFi film called The Neptune Men - to cut cost they used stock Japanese WW2 footage - one of which showed a building with a big ass picture of Hitler getting blown up. I don't for the life of me know why they did it. I'm not sure anybody was looking in at the film while they were making it - hence it showing up on MST3K.
The bots' response

"They blew up the hitler building!"
"All the Hitler rides and games"
"And that great restaurant - The Bunker"
"The Hitler curly Fries you you..."

[frylock]

15. "They blew up the hitler building!"

YOU BASTARDS!!! I love that ep, and laugh my ass off everytime they show that scene. I think it was Prince of Space. Man, I miss that show.

[Jed Dilligan]

5. I think the swastika indicates a vegetarian restaurant in India,

not sure about this... But it seems like kind of a joke on that. I doubt that real neo-Nazis would open such a restaurant.

Why is this really more offensive than the Banana Republic? Or a Jeep Cherokee?

[WiseButAngrySara]

6. Too strange! In India? Where "The Da Vinci Code" is banished?

WTF? I can understand the banishment of cartoons of Muhammad, as many Indians are Muslims, but this is very strange. And Hitler's Cross? It is true about the swastika, though, being an ancient holy symbol often used as a visual aid in meditation. That must explain the 'cross'... Not Christian at all, which I didn't understand until I looked at the photo.

[Greyhound]

8. Oh please, why are we so upset by this, after all,

India is our good friend and always backs us up. And, we get all those yummy mangoes too... :sarcasm:

[ForeverWinter]

9. We had an asian/fusion place in Denver for a while called "Mao".

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. Is this their idea of being edgy?

The owner of this place had to know what he was doing.

[malaise]

12. It's his place in his country

whoever doesn't like it can boycott the place.

[Ian David]

13. Let's just open The Nathuram Godse's Hindu Mahasabha Kosher Delicatessen

On January 30, 1948, on his way to a prayer meeting, Gandhi was shot dead in Birla House, New Delhi, by Nathuram Godse. Godse was a Hindu radical with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.<17> Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted, and on 15 November 1949, were executed. A prominent revolutionary and Hindu revivalist, the president of the Mahasabha, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was accused of being the architect of the plot, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Gandhi's memorial (or Samādhi) at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi, bears the epigraph, (Devanagiri: हे ! राम or, Hé Rām), which may be translated as "Oh God". These are widely believed to be Gandhi's last words after he was shot, though the veracity of this statement has been disputed by many.<18> Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the nation through radio:

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi#Assassination

[NoPasaran]

14. Today the salad bar, tomorrow the world! n/t