Cutting the Chai has moved to a new domain: cuttingthechai.com.
You can get in touch with Soumyadip at www.soumyadip.com.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Smoking a Survey and Heading Home

I'm a teacher who tutors kids of classes I to V.
I've studied only up to class XII
I earn Rs 8,000 a month
I smoke small Gold Flakes, that too a packet of 10s a day with an occasional puff of Wills Navy Cut
I have been smoking for the last eight years and have become a 'regular' in the last four.

This isn't my CV, but the response sheet which a consumer survey guy filled up on my name and I was 'gifted' a set of glittering yellow bowls as a token of appreciation for my 'efforts.' The real me didn't fit their customer profile so he invented the aforementioned profile and pleaded me to repeat the same if asked by his superiors. I played along to see what happens next, only to find that all the respondents there were actually non small Gold Flake smokers masquerading as one - for half-a-dozen kitschy bowls - somehow persuaded by the 'researchers' so that they can achieve their respondent targets.

Nothing surprising. Surveys are often conducted in similar fashion. I have another set of green jars (but not as tawdry as the bowls) to prove my point. Besides, I too worked as a research investigator once. Hence, we should never take surveys, polls and similar gimmickry too seriously. And if the proposed slim ciggie set to take on small Gold Flake goes up in flakes, the company knows who to blame. By the way, does anyone want a set of six golden glass bowls, ideal for serving ice-cream, curd, custard etc? They can also double up as ashtrays.

And this blogger is again off to his favourite destination - home and hopes to keep on posting, albeit a little irregularly.

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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

It Rained in Delhi

It Rained in Delhi

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Monday, June 26, 2006

Genuinely Fake

Half a grand for the kids to play with.

Fake 500 Rupee Note

Five Hundred Rupee Note

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Saturday, June 24, 2006

I ain't a Splogger

It's official. Following the suspected splogging charges against me, I have finally been exonerated of all the charges. Here's the mail to this effect:

Re: [#544032] Non-spam review and verification request: http://soumyadipc.blogspot.com

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team


Some less letters to type. That's a relief, but doesn't equal the one which thousands of undertrials across the country would get following the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

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Vintage Indian Advertisements - XII

This is the twelfth and the last instalment in Season One of Vintage Indian Advertisements, which was exclusively sourced from the pages of Indrajal Comics (Courtesy: The Comic Project). Will attempt to bring in some more variety in Season Two (maybe some television commercials). What I intend to do is to develop an online freely accessible archive of Indian advertising. If anyone has some old and interesting ads to share, please do send them across at the email mentioned in the profile. Now to the ads:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]


Chiclets

United Commercial Bank (UCO Bank)
United Commercial Bank (UCO Bank)

View Master - Stereo Viewer
View Master - Stereo Viewer

View Master - Stereo Viewer
View Master - Stereo Viewer

Russian Postage Stamps
Russian Postage Stamps

Russian Postage Stamps
Russian Postage Stamps

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth | Tenth | Evelenth

Update: Season Two of Vintage Indian Advertisements can be accessed here

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Friday, June 23, 2006

Free Online Image Editing

SnipshotAre the days of installing software onto the hard disks coming to an end? The signs strongly indicate in that direction. We've heard about (and some of us have also tried out) Google's Spreadsheets as an alternative to MS Excel. Now I found this - an alternative to Adobe Photoshop in the making, but still has a long way to go - Snipshot. It allows editing of huge images up to 10 MB or 5000X5000 pixels. You can import images from a website or your hard disk, save the images in different formats. Basic editing like crop, resize, rotate and other image adjustments. More features are promised to be on the way. And most importantly it is free and very easy (I edited the accompanying Snipshot logo using their online photo editing tool).

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Thursday, June 22, 2006

Vintage Indian Advertisements - XI

The eleventh instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

Nutramul
Amul's Nutramul (The Nutramul Dada is Jugal Hansraj)

Parry's
Parry's

Parry's
Parry's

Nutrine
Nutrine

Nutrine
Nutrine

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth | Tenth

Click here for the complete post...

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

I'm a Splogger?

Splogger AlertAt least Blogger's spam-prevention "robots have detected that" this "blog has characteristics of a spam blog." But thankfully the rest of the text reads:

Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.

Before we can turn off mandatory word verification on your posts we'll need to have a human review your blog and verify that it is not a spam blog...

Curse those spammers, for their cheap tricks I now will have to type in an additional yehou for this post to get published. Probably all those hyperlinks and the repetitive texts in my pet project - Vintage Indian Advertisements are responsible. But can't possibly avoid doing that. Will have to live with additional keyboard tapping for some more time. Not much of a problem there and many many degrees lesser than those irritating spam blogs.

Read about Blogger's spam fighting techniques.

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Vintage Indian Advertisements - X

The tenth instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

NP Dubble Bubble Gum
NP Dubble Bubble Gum

Chic-Modithread Children's Needlework Contest
Chic-Modithread Children's Needlework Contest (To celebrate the International Year of the Child 1979)

Cadbury's Gems
Cadbury's Gems

Mysore Sandal Soap
Mysore Sandal Soap - Great Indian Heritage Contest

Amul's Nutramul
Amul's Nutramul

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth

Click here for the complete post...

Vintage Indian Advertisements - IX

The ninth instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

Morton Sweets
Morton Sweets

Leo Toys
Leo Toys

Leo Toys
Leo Toys

Liberty Luna Cameras
Liberty Luna Cameras

Life Insurance Corporation of India
Life Insurance Corporation of India

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth

Update: Season Two of Vintage Indian Advertisements can be accessed here

Click here for the complete post...

Vintage Indian Advertisements - VIII

The eighth instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

Kissan Jam<
Kissan Jam

Fevicol Synthetic Adhesive
Fevicol Synthetic Adhesive

Cadbury's Gems
Cadbury's Gems

Kissan Jam<
Kissan Jam

Harnik Food Industries
Harnik Food Industries (The same one that manufactured those Phantom Cigarettes, an old favourite. I luxuriously smoked, rather sucked off uncountable packets. They had to change their logo from a Phantom lookalike to a pirate sort of thing. And doesn't the bigger kid resemble Rahul Dravid?)

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh

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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The Comic Book Database

Found this via Anthony.

Comic Book Data BaseComicBookDB.com is the fastest-growing comic database on the web. The first goal of this project is to catalog every comic, graphic novel, manga, creator, character and anything else that could possibly relate to the field of comics.

But that is only the beginning. The second goal of ComicBookDB.com is to make this wealth of information as useful as possible. This means making as many connections as possible from one issue, one creator, one character to everything else in the site.

Best of all, ComicBookDB.com is built by anyone and everyone who wants to help. Fans, creators, publishers, anyone who has information that is useful is welcome to register a free account and start contributing.

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Vintage Indian Advertisements - VII

The seventh instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

Central Bank of India
Central Bank of India

Click III Aim and Shoot Cameras
Click III Aim and Shoot Cameras

Ekco Sketch Pen
Ekco Sketch Pen

Duckback School Bags
Duckback School Bags

Dipy's Squash
Dipy's Squash

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth

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Monday, June 19, 2006

Should Get

Outlook - Bollywood Music Special"Lyrics today aren't poetry, just bad prose," rightly says Gulzar. If not for the prose, the latest issue of Outlook (June 26, 2006 Volume XLVI, No. 25) is a must buy for the melody in the 'free' Sa Re Ga Ma (previously HMV) CD accompanying the magazine. It features 10 select numbers to celebrate the 75 years of Hindi film songs.

Haven't read the magazine, but already listened to the songs for the umpteenth time. Who wouldn't, when the collection is something like:

[Click on the links to listen to a sample of the song in .rm format | Courtesy HamaraCD]

1. Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam
2. Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya
3. Jo Wada Kiya Woh Nibhana Padega
4. Poochho Na Kaise Maine
5. Man Re Tu Kahe Na Dheer Dhare
6. Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hain
7. Din Dhal Jaye Haye
8. Kuchh To Log Kahenge
9. Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho
10. Dil Cheez Kya Hain

For Rs 20 it's more than worth it. My opinions on the observations on the views and observations in this issue of Outlook would find space in a later post.

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Vintage Indian Advertisements - VI

The sixth instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

Amul Chocolates
Amul Chocolates

Camel Instrument Box
Camel Instrument Box

Amul Chocolates
Amul Chocolates

Bata Sandals
Bata Sandals

Canara Bank
Canara Bank

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth

Click here for the complete post...

Vintage Indian Advertisements - V

Here's the fifth instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

Boroline
Boroline

Blow Plast Limited
Blow Plast Limited - Arora-Hasbro Toys

Binaca
Binaca Fluoride Toothpaste

Camel Colours
Camel Water Colours and Poster Colours

Bata Coloured Canvas
Bata Coloured Canvas Range

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth

Click here for the complete post...

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Vintage Indian Advertisements - IV

Here's the fourth instalment:

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

Gold Spot
Gold Spot

Morton
Morton

Vicks Vaporub
Vicks Vaporub

Life Insurance Corporation of India
Life Insurance Corporation of India

Nutrine Eclairs
Nutrine Eclairs

Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third

Click here for the complete post...