Archive for the 'India' Category
Who is this lady called Sonia Gandhi? Is she an Indian or an Italian? Maybe she herself doesn’t know. What are her achievements? That she married the son of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi? Maybe also that she took control of the main political party of India after the death of her husband Rajiv Gandhi in a bomb blast? Maybe also that she lost all her commonsense and tried unsuccessfully to become Prime Minister of India and even claimed that she had the support of the majority which she actually had not. Then she thought what to do? Rahul and Priyanka were too small for primeministership. What to do now? So she found a faithful servant in Manmohan Singh. He agreed to become a dummy Prime Minister and Sonia started grooming her kids for the top job. Good that at least she realized one thing that a Russian can never be the President of say U.S., just by becoming spouse of a U.S. citizen. Some people do marriages with foreign nationals to solve their immigration problems. But can a marriage allow any foreign national to be President of Prime minister just because she or he married a citizen of that country?
R.S.
India, Politics (India) | 22.06.2007 13:01 | No Comments
Sania Mirza, the ace Indian woman tennis player, is a beautiful person with a beautiful heart. At this very young age, she has already achieved what no other Indian women had been able to achieve in their entire careers in any sport. So, she deserves a big clap from all Indians. But unfortunately, she has not been able to maintain her progress in the international rankings. At one time not so long ago, it was highly expected that she would soon break into the top ten players of the world. Some reports even suggested that she has the potential to win a grand slam event. Although she is still in the top 50 players of the world, it looks highly unlikely to me that she will ever be able to reach top 10 stage. As far as I am concerned, I feel that her decline has already started. She had a very bad last year or so from the fitness point of view. Although she has good groundstrokes and is a good baseline player, her weakest link is her service. It is her service, which has not allowed her to be a part of the top 10 or 20. Her service is so weak that she can very easily make a world record in the number of double faults in a player’s career. I am not a critic of Sania Mirza. In fact I really am proud of her and am a fan of her, but fact is that she has already played her best tennis. My apologies to her fans. I must say that she did a wonderful thing by giving these Indian Cricketers some sleepless nights by doing so many ads. This little girl from Hydrabad has shown that what girls can do if they want. Maybe India needs many more Sania Mirzas.
India, Culture (India) | 22.06.2007 13:00 | No Comments
Almost everyone loves monsoon season. This is a very safe statement. Me too! India is having quite favourable monsoons for last few years. This year it is expected to be a good one.
A good monsoon is a must for Indian agriculture which is mainly dependent on it. Raining is not only good to watch, it can very quickly change the moods. On the other hand, it has a few problems as well. It is a season that is highly prone to diseases. In some areas, it can cause very heavy floods which results in huge loss of life and property. And ‘MAN’ is forced to watch helplessly. It can be easily said that rains bring mixed feelings of happiness and sadness. I hope that this year it brings much more of happiness and very little of sadness, may be not even very little.
A note on Indian Monsoon cannot be complete without mentioning the fun of having Tea with Pakoras, sitting in the balcony, and enjoying rain watching.
R.S.
India | 21.06.2007 10:28 | No Comments
Recently I got an assignment from one of my clients to promote TAJ MAHAL as one of ten new seven wonders of the world. Voting for this is being done throughout the world these days This is being done by SMS, emails and phone calls. The result of this is to come on 7th July, 2007. So far so good.
By the time I finished my assignment, I also grew fond of this and was very happy to be a part of this movement in a small way. Then came some different thoughts. Like, isn’t it a shame that so wonderful creations of this world are now at the mercy of SMS, emails and phone calls for securing their places that they deserve anyway? Why choose only 7 wonders? Why not these can be 21 or more, at an actual number of deserving ones? Isn’t it wrong and gravely unjust to try and give them numbers for their beauty etc.? It is certainly not a fashion show. A wonder will remain a wonder anyway, without being on the mercy of any list.
R.S.
India, Culture (India) | 21.06.2007 10:27 | No Comments
India is in Stone Age today and they’re still so touchy about two innocent lovers’ getting close in public. But check this out. Two schools actually banned public displays of affection among students. Wow, this country is going back to Ice Age now.
Two schools in Mumbai have banned public displays of affection, warning students they will face disciplinary action if caught holding hands, kissing or touching on campus, school officials said Monday.
The schools justified the move by saying that these acts, which are increasingly being shown by the local entertainment industry and emulated by the students, were contrary to traditional Indian values.
Parents were told that the school has a “zero tolerance toward bullying, vulgarity, vandalism and displays of affection not acceptable to society at large,” said J. Vas, principal of the Jamnabai Narsee school.
“Hormones run riot at 16 to 18 years and we need to take disciplinary measures, set limits and put in certain ground rules,” said Vas.
India is a conservative society where public displays of affection are largely taboo. But in recent years, Indian-language movies have started showing scenes of kissing, partly because of slowly changing values as India opens up to the West.
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Read more on this story
Meanwhile, over 53% of children in India face sexual abuse, which is probably the worst in the world. But this is perfectly ok apparently … So, the message is “Children can’t hold hands in public but parents can …”
India, Culture (India), Politics (India) | 18.06.2007 5:37 | No Comments
Just found this article today:
Washington, June 16 (IANS) The US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), a political awareness group of Indian Americans, Saturday rapped US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s campaign for its ‘anti-Indian American stereotyping’.
In letter to Obama, USINPAC chairman Sanjay Puri stressed on ethics in political campaigning and denounced the politics of stereotyping as exhibited by research notes of the Obama for America campaign, a USINPAC press release said.
‘As representatives of the Indian American community, we have been encouraged by Senator Barack Obama’s message of inclusion and his promise to bring a new kind of politics to the United States.
‘This is why we are so concerned about media reports indicating that his staff may be engaging in the worst kind of anti-Indian American stereotyping,’ Puri wrote in his letter.
Indian Americans have been caught in the campaign crossfire of the two leading Democratic presidential hopefuls - Obama and former first lady Hillary Clinton.
Obama fired the first salvo shortly after Clinton released her financial information under government ethics rules for presidential candidates.
Obama’s team circulated what was purported to be an analysis of ‘Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)’s Personal Financial And Political Ties To India’.
The title had an apparent reference to a joke that Clinton once made during a fund-raiser in a Sikh supporter’s home that she can run for a Senate seat from Punjab and win easily.
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http://in.news.yahoo.com/070616/43/6h28i.html
These people can’t help overreacting, can they? Besides, campaign funding is essentially a bride, nothing else.
Politics, India, Politics (India) | 16.06.2007 8:05 | No Comments
Yet another crappy day in India.
For variety of reasons, I didn’t have A/C or cooler in my flat, but when I got back from Japan last week, it was too hot here so I finally bought a cooler the day before yesterday. I finally slept well that day. Life here was slightly improving or so I thought.
The cooler stopped working within the first twenty four hours. Obviously, I’m not happy. The shop I bought this from is supposed to send a guy to my flat to fix this, but he hasn’t arrived today. Is he coming at all? I don’t know.
No wonder, so many people think that India is full of cheats and scumbags … *** sigh ***
All products made here are crappy. It seems that 99% of people here happily sell these craps; they’re cheats and scumbags. And what is the name of the country full of them? “India.”
India, Business (India), Culture (India) | 14.06.2007 4:07 | No Comments
Be aware of express mail in India. I asked someone to send me certain documents from China; he sent them last Sunday. After five working days, they haven’t arrived here yet. As I track this express mail online, it was sent to Mumbai while the final destination is Delhi; in other words, this email is traveling unnecessary distance. Furthermore, post office workers around here make any excuses to goof off. For example, …
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India celebrated the 150th anniversary of its First War of Independence against British rule on Friday, poking fun at its former colonial rulers at a historic fort in the capital which saw much bloodshed on both sides.
The festivities centred around the Red Fort, a magnificent 17th-century red sandstone structure in Delhi where mutinous Indian soldiers proclaimed the ageing and frail Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as ruler of India in May 1857.
What started as an act of defiance by some Indian soldiers who refused to use rifle bullets said to be greased with beef and pork fat quickly became a popular rebellion against the British East India Company that ruled most of India. Muslims consider pork unclean while Hindus view the cow as holy.
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Read the rest of the article here.
This is yet another b*** s*** holiday in India; most people work, but lazy scumbag government employees like post office workers are taking day off today. This is one of a million reasons why express mail doesn’t work like it should in India. Did I tell you that there are so many cows, dogs and other animals everywhere? There is a good chance that a cow or a dog literally ate this mail. There is no civilization here. Have you heard the name “Indus Valley Civilization”? You know, the civilization that was supposed to be founded roughly 5000 years ago? Pure B.S. It’s science fiction, buddy. Civilization doesn’t exist here today, so how could there be one 5000 freaking years ago?
India, Business (India) | 11.05.2007 5:33 | 2 Comments
New Delhi: In a one-off case, the Supreme Court has ruled that the government has the power to ban or forfeit any publication that endangers public order, even if it means restricting the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
“Government has the power to confiscate material, which contain references that could spark violence,” the Bench comprising Justices B P Singh and H S Bedi observed while upholding the Karnataka government’s decision to ban a vernacular novel in the state.
The ruling comes in the wake of a ban imposed by Karnataka government on a novel titled Dharmakaarana which allegedly contains derogatory references to a 12th century saint Basaveshwara. The novel was banned in 1995 by the state government following a public outcry.
However, author P V Narayana and others challenged the ban in the Karnataka High Court, which upheld the government’s decision. Following this, an appeal was filed in the Supreme Court.
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Read the rest of the article here.
So, here it is. No freedom of speech in India.
India, Culture (India), Politics (India) | 6.05.2007 12:10 | No Comments
Chennai: It’s a film that is bound to be noticed, if not for anything else, at least its title which is Kelvikkuri or the question mark. A movie on custodial deaths, Kelvikkuri has managed to get on the wrong side of the Censor Board, which has questioned the very premise of the film.
The Board has refused to certify the film claiming that it portrays the police in a bad light. But the film’s director Jailani feels otherwise about it.
“They are banning it for a reason that I think is unreasonable and that hurts all the more,” Jailani says.
Read the rest of the article here
This is about censorship, but stuff that the censor board is trying to censor is nothing really. How can something like this be censored? Is this North Korea or some place?
India, Culture (India), Politics (India) | 2.05.2007 13:39 | No Comments