You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2011.
You can’t make such stuff up:
Hundreds of BJP workers from Karnataka, who were headed north to Kashmir to hoist the national flag on Republic Day at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, found themselves back in south after Maharashtra police and railway officials refused to allow the train to proceed to its destination.
[...]
When the train arrived at Ahmednagar, railway officials blacked out the lights. Taking cover of the darkness, they detached the train’s engine and attached it to the rear of the train. Two more bogies with RPF personnel were attached to the train, and around 1.30 am, it started, – but, of course, in the reverse direction, back to Karnataka.
For the BJP workers, many of them fast asleep, it was too late. By the time they realised, the train was at Nagansur station on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border.
Today’s lesson: If you want to be patriotic, drink a lot of coffee.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi died an hour ago.
I’m happy for him.
Yesterday on The Daily Show, two U.S.-based Iranian satirists, Kambiz Hosseini & Saman Arbabi. They produce a weekly satirical news show, Parazit, not unlike The Daily Show itself. If you have a few minutes, watch the interview. It was heartwarming to see that the two satirists idolize Jon Stewart and The Daily Show and Jon Stewart, on the other hand, candidly admitting that the Parazit is a show with far more guts.
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On that note, where are the satirical news shows in India? Jaspal Bhatti was a fine satirist but he shied away from direct finger pointing — he stuck to social satire. Shekhar Suman was good. Cyrus Broacha hosts The Week That Wasn’t, but it’s not a satire show. They seem to be after cheap laughs.
Satire is serious business and is an untapped market in India. I wish someone produced a show of this nature in India. It has the potential to be larger than just a TV show. And it’s not like we don’t have material to satire — Digvijay Singh alone provides material on a weekly basis.
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If one of you decides to produce a show, let me advice you to stay away from lampooning Shiv Sena .. and MNS .. and Bajrang Dal .. and dalits .. and
Ah, I see what the problem is.
Today’s News You Can’t Use:
Not washing jeans for 15 months is safe; it is not a health hazard.
This is a absolutely fascinating read, more so if you are into art or design:
Apple icon secrets: hidden meanings hiding in plain sight.
Read the post; read all comments. If you use an iPhone, iPod or a Mac, you can verify it yourself. In all likelihood, there are many other icons and design related trivia that haven’t been discovered and remain as hidden easter eggs.
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My favourite is the icon for the Stocks app on iPhone. It makes sense that the icon means something but I could have never guessed what it means. It is both beautiful and poignant.
Of late, black money stashed away in foreign accounts has been the focus of politicians and the Supreme Court. It seems like a self-evident truth that black money is bad. Here’s a counter-argument by libertarian Sauvik Chakraverti:
Our Supreme Court, the “committed judiciary” of the CONgress, has accused tax dodgers who have stashed their wealth abroad of a very grave crime – “plunder of the nation.” Complete nonsense, of course. A tax dodger cheats The State and not the nation – and, since this State cheats everyone anyway, this is really a “good thing,” for it preserves Capital for future investments. Everyone benefits from these future investments – goods are produced, jobs are created, and what not. If our The State had got hold of this money, it would have been “consumed”: NREGA, CWG, etc. Capital consumption makes everyone poorer. It is the road to de-civilisation. God bless the tax dodger.
Yet, there are forces at work that are in reality plundering the nation – and these are the forces of inflationism.
You have to be skeptical of the state — which any rational person should be, in my opinion — to see the merits of his argument. Now in an ideal world, we would recover the black money, feed all the poor and hungry, and transform into a great country.
In reality, not so much.
Worth a thought.
This is fascinating (and funny). ET reports:
First ever PC virus was created in Pakistan
It is not a hoax. I found video of the interview too. Watch at your own risk — the video might forever ruin your image of a cool, geeky computer hacker. But it is worth watching just for the gloating about bringing America down to its knees. The exact words of the anchor, Farah, go ‘Corporate America ko toh aapne fix kar diya tha.‘ (‘You totally nailed corporate America’)
Further:
“I am not sure whether or not this is a matter of pride that it was in Pakistan that the first computer virus was written. What do you think?” [a caller to the program] asks Alvi.
“Oh, absolutely. Rest assured that it is a matter of pride,” replies Alvi.
I still maintain that Nusrat saab has a slight edge over this computer wizard as the pride of Pakistan.
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This should prompt some Indian politician to say that Pakistan has been exporting terror since the 80s. Pakistan’s retort will be that they were clearly non-state actors.
Today’s statistic:
1 of every 4 rapes in Indian cities takes place in Delhi.
Even if you assume that Delhi (being a metro) has a higher percentage of reported cases, this study includes 35 major Indian cities. That is staggering.
Further:
Similarly, almost two-fifth of kidnappings/abductions of women happened in Delhi, 15% of dowry deaths and 14% of molestation cases.
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You know what a perfect life would be?
First, being born as a girl in Haryana (that will take a few attempts with all the female infanticide), growing up in the wonderful lush green fields of the state, falling in love with a guy of the same gotra, moving to Delhi to escape your family, living in Delhi as a young woman, moving to Pune to escape your family that has now followed you to Delhi, taking up a job around Pune as an RTI activist investigating land deals. And we know what happens after that.
Yep, it’s not funny.
None of us expect high standards from tabloid reporting, but this?
[Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza danced at a party .. together .. proving finally that they're a couple.]
But the khullam khulla attitude Ritesh and Genelia had was something that we have never seen before and will go down in history.
I’m thankful that history is written by the victors, not reporters.
