Cutting the Chai Calendar 2009

Some stats first...

At the time of posting this, the 2008 Cutting the Chai calendar has been downloaded over 1102 times. The inaugural edition in 2007 was downloaded 519 times.

And here's the 2009 edition of the Cutting the Chai Calendar (with Indian festivals and holidays).

This printable calendar is in the standard A4 size (minus any frills), so that you can take easy printouts and put it up wherever you want to. Moreover, this calendar is in a compact single page, that saves you the trouble of flipping it over every month.

Major Indian festivals and holidays have also been included as they are usually not found in most calendars available online.

This time the printable calendar is available in three formats (PDF, JPG and GIF). Take your pick.

2009 Calendar with Indian Festivals and Holidays (Size A4)

Download PDF [383 KB]
Download JPG [164 KB]
Download GIF [52 KB]

The official Government of India list of holidays in 2009

2009 Gazetted Holidays [JPG 108 KB]
2009 Restricted Holidays [JPG 191 KB]

Have a Happy 2009!

Watch Ghajini Gajodhar Online Now

My level of liking for Aamir Khan seems to be getting lower by the day. But this isn't what this post is about.

The funny guys at Webchutney have come up with a new viral for Oktatabyebye.com.

This esentially is a spoof on Ghajini and like everything about Aamir Khan has only Aamir in the ad (with the exception of the tattoo artist).

The disclaimer reads, "Before we forget, the character portrayed here is completely fictitious (and NOT a perfectionist). Resemblance to any real-life person(s) is purely accidental."

Watch:


Download video [00:02:21 FLV 2.79 MB]

How Many Lacpixels is Your Camera?

These online shopping sites come up with innovative tricks to fool people.

This seems to be use for quite some time, but caught my attention only this morning. The 'new' measurement of camera resolution - the lacpixel/lakhpixel.

If you are wondering what it is, here's the explanation:

10 lakh/lac = 1 million
1 megapixel = 1 million pixels
10 lacpixel/lakhpixel = 1 megapixel

For a layman the bigger the number, the better it is (remember the PMPO days). So a 1.3 megapixel camera would directly translate into an 'appealing' 13.0 lacpixel camera. 13 > 1.3. So the selling chances are higher.

Next we might see some hazarpixel cameras too.

Thankfully didn't yet notice any of the major manufacturers resort to this gimmick.

Related posts:

· Before Purchasing Online, Check Prices Offline
· The Megapixel Hoax

Away from the Internet

Four days - that must be the maximum in years that I've been away from the internet (well, not actually... I did check a few sites in between on my cell phone... but that doesn't exactly count. Does it?).

I would have liked to keep the judai (separation) for a while longer, but my boss didn't let it be. Had to log on to send some 'important' emails. And when you are online you just cannnot resist the temptation to check the updates on GMail, Blogger, Twitter, feed reader, LinkedIn, Facebook, Orkut and so many more. I couldn't resist posting a post.

The reason is that I'm away on a vacation, a few marriages to attend and a little booze to drink.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Silchar in South Assam for four more days - so more four days away from the net (I'll be Twittering though). I'm not getting any withdrawal symptoms. Yet.

By the way, the smoking ban doesn't seem to have any effect on the bars in Shillong. Actually the waiter was surprised that we asked him the question.

And kids here too are playing terrorist-NSG games. Disturbing.

Planning to go to an interesting museum today. Will post if I find anything interesting.

Hot Brides Courtesy Lakme

Saket Chaudhary's much loved 2006 romantic-comedy Pyar Ke Side Effects provides us with some insights on why do girls want to get married and boys are usually (though not always) averse to the idea.

There's a scene in the movie where Sid (Rahul Bose) Nanoo (Ranvir Shorey) and Aamir Bashir (Kapil Sharma - Sid's brother-in-law) discuss the finer details of marriage over bottles of beer.

Kapil's observation is that girls want to get married because wedding is a beauty contest that every girl can win, as on that day her make-up, clothes, jewellery is better than rest of the girls. That day "she can be Miss World".



And Lakmé Salon's Bridal Sutra attempts to make that every girl's 'Miss World dream' come true.

I found this print ad for Bridal Sutra Looks at the Lakmé Salon ver sexy. This proves that sexiness isn't inversely proportional to the skin area covered with clothes.


Look the best on your wedding day.
Introducing Bridal Sutra looks at the Lakmé Salons.
Signature bridal make-up, hairdos and saree draping in a range of traditional, contemporary and regional styles.
Visit www.lakmeindia.com to locate a salon near you.
Call 011-26143298/0584 for further queries.
Lakmé Salon

Agency: Publicis Ambience

Months After Chrome Launch Google Guys Still Use Firefox

Google has pumped up advertising for its new baby - Google Chrome via its Adwords channel. It is also promoting the product through YouTube and also LinkedIn (amongst others).

So this implies that Google (obviously) wants the world to use its Chrome browser. But it seems that the guys there in Mountain View are themselves yet to get used to their very own web browser and are still relying on Firefox for travelling across the World Wide Web.

I stumbled across this browsing through Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide [PDF link] (Dated November 13, 2008) ^[Via] and found that one of the screenshots (on page 3) that the good guys used to make things easier for us has a tiny but very identifiable Firefox logo. That can mean only one thing - Google still uses Firefox! And that is a good thing. Even Bill Gates might be.



To give them the benifit of doubt, they might be working on a Mac (I never worked on that much) and Google is yet to release a Mac-compatible version of Chrome. Therefore Firefox.

Related posts:

· Whoa! Google Chrome has Crashed
· Google Chrome Identified as Safari
· The Google Chrome Comic Book

Watch Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai for Free Legally

Many people visit this blog looking for free download or an option to watch online the popular sitcom Sarabhai Versus Sarabhai, but find only a compilation of some of the best moments from the serial.

All the episodes of the serial used to be available on Indya.com, but at a cost (and also illegally elsewhere). The good news is that it is now Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai is available for free online viewing at Rajshri.com.

At the time of posting this only the first four episodes were made available. I believe that in some time all the episodes would be put up (though my analysis says that they have already uploaded 16 episodes but haven't yet made them visible on the website).

Since there is no download option, users with slower internet connections can find the experience a bit painful. But then there are ways to store the files on your hard disk for future smooth viewing.

Related posts:

· Sarabhai Versus Sarabhai: Select Shots

Durex Apple: The Original Temptation

Durex apple flavoured condoms print ad:

Your turn now to seduce heer with the forbidden fruit.
Apple flavoured condoms.
Next time she is hungry for love, offer her a heavenly temptation.
Durex's new apple flavoured condom.
So that lovemaking turns more fruitful.
Even sinful.
Durex Apple
The original temptation

Agency: McCann

John, Jiah and a pair of Wrangler's

Hunky John Abraham and dusky Jiah Khan in a commercial for Wrangler Jeans. Both get close and closer. Fingers slip into the belt loop, hands get beneath the thighs. And given Jiah's penchant for water she wants to do it under the shower. But John has other plans - a long run away in a bathtub on the riverside. "Do It Your Way - Wrangler".


Download video [00:00:40 FLV 873 KB]
Download hi-res video [00:00:40 AVI 3.87 MB]
Download for mobile [00:00:40 3GP 750 KB]

Stills from the ad:


Original image slideshow

London International Awards - Indian Winners

Indian advertising agencies put up a decent show at the London International Awards 2008.

Leo Burnett picked up the maximum metals. It won nine of the 11 nominations it achieved. Unsurprisingly, eight of the nine awards were for the Luxor Highlighter campaign: three golds for Che, Charlie and Hitler in the Design category and two golds for Highlight What is Important – Pink and Blue in the Print category. Che, Charlie and Hitler won a silver each in the Print category, while Tide Detergents picked up a silver in the Consumer Campaign sub-category in Print.

O&M Mumbai won three silvers, two for its work for Neo Sports in the Campaign and Media Promotion sub-category in Television/Cinema. The third silver was brought home by the Videocon Integra Wide Screen TV campaign in the Radio category.

Production house Nirvana Films won a silver for its work on Neo Sports in the Television/Cinema category.

A showcase of the winning entries from India:


Category: Design - Poster
Award: Gold
Category: Category: Print - Office Equipment
Award: Silver
Ad: "Che"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Product: Luxor Highlighters
Client: Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriter: Russell Barrett
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Illustrator: Kunal Mhabadi


Category: Design - Poster
Award: Gold
Category: Category: Print - Office Equipment
Award: Silver
Ad: "Charlie"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Product: Luxor Highlighters
Client: Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriter: Russell Barrett
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Illustrator: Kunal Mhabadi


Category: Design - Poster
Award: Gold
Category: Category: Print - Office Equipment
Award: Silver
Ad: "Hitler"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Product: Luxor Highlighters
Client: Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriter: Russell Barrett
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Illustrator: Kunal Mhabadi


"Every daily newspaper is chockablock with news. People in fact tend to scan each page and read only what is important. We just decided to help them do that better. Luxor Highlighters tied up with a National Newspaper who agreed to hiighlight only the salient parts of every article on a particular page. Our team worked closely with the editorial team in coming uo with innovative and intrinsically true stories within the larger story. The promotion touched the consumer at exactly the right time and at just the right place."

Category: Print - Office Equipment
Award: Gold
Ad: "Highlight What's Important - Pink"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Product: Luxor Highlighters
Client: Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriters: Russell Barrett/Santosh Padhi
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Illustrator: Kunal Mhabadi


Category: Print - Office Equipment
Award: Gold
Ad: "Highlight What's Important - Blue"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Product: Luxor Highlighters
Client: Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriters: Russell Barrett/Santosh Padhi
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Illustrator: Kunal Mhabadi


The centre spread of a magazine was stuck with each other with post-it glue
On opening the page the reader saw the stain stuck to the t-shirt
Post-it glue was applied on the lipstick
On further opening the page the reader could easily remove the stain off the garment

The centre spread of a magazine was innovately used to communicate a fresh new idea for Tide. The left half of the centre spread had the visual of the supposedly stained garment and the other half had the visual of a secretary with red lipstick. The lipstick was stuck to tha garment with the help of post-it glue. When the reader tried to open the page, he could easily remove the lipstick stain off the garment. This laid emphasis to our core proposition, 'Put stains back where they belong'."

Category: Print - Consumer Campaign
Award: Silver
Ad: "Lipstick"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Client: Procter & Gamble
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriter: Santosh Padhi
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Photographer: Amol Jadhav
Illustrator: Bhushan Patil


"The centre spread of a magazine was stuck with each other with post-it glue
On opening the page the reader saw the stain stuck to the t-shirt
Post-it glue was applied on the ketchup
On further opening the page the reader could easily remove the stain off the garment

The centre spread of a magazine was innovately used to communicate a fresh new idea for Tide. The left half of the centre spread had the visual of the supposedly stained garment and the other half had the visual of a boy spilling ketchup from his burger. The ketchup was stuck to tha garment with the help of post-it glue. When the reader tried to open the page, he could easily remove the ketchup stain off the garment. This laid emphasis to our core proposition, 'Put stains back where they belong'."

Category: Print - Consumer Campaign
Award: Silver
Ad: "Ketchup"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Client: Procter & Gamble
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriter: Santosh Padhi
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Photographer: Amol Jadhav
Illustrator: Bhushan Patil


"The centre spread of a magazine was stuck with each other with post-it glue
On opening the page the reader saw the stain stuck to the t-shirt
Post-it glue was applied on the ice-cream
On further opening the page the reader could easily remove the stain off the garment

The centre spread of a magazine was innovately used to communicate a fresh new idea for Tide. The left half of the centre spread had the visual of the supposedly stained garment and the other half had the visual of a girl having an ice-cream.

The ice-cream was stuck to tha garment with the help of post-it glue. When the reader tried to open the page, he could easily remove the ice-cream stain off the garment. This laid emphasis to our core proposition, 'Put stains back where they belong'."

Category: Print - Consumer Campaign
Award: Silver
Ad: "Ice Cream"
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Client: Procter & Gamble
Agency: Leo Burnett India, Mumbai
Chief Creative Officer: KV Sridhar
Executive Creative Director: Santosh Padhi
Copywriter: Santosh Padhi
Art Director: Santosh Padhi
Photographer: Amol Jadhav
Illustrator: Bhushan Patil


Download audio [MP3 157 KB 00:00:20 64kbps Stereo 44 kHz]
Category: Radio
Award: Silver
Ad:"Gunshot"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Client: Videocon Industries Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: Piyush Pandey
Executive Creative Director: Sumanto Chattopadhyay
Creative Director: Shekhar Jha
Copywriter: Karn Singh
Agency Producer: Diya Lahiri
Production Company: Musica, Mumbai
Recording Studio: Eardrum, Mumbai
Audio Engineer: Dereck
Sound Design Company: Eardrum, Mumbai
Sound Design By: Dereck
Voice-Over: Manoj Shetty


Download audio [MP3 274 KB 00:00:35 64kbps Stereo 44 kHz]
Category: Radio
Award: Silver
Ad: "Soap Opera"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Client: Videocon Industries Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: Piyush Pandey
Executive Creative Director: Sumanto Chattopadhyay
Creative Director: Shekhar Jha
Copywriter: Karn Singh
Agency Producer: Diya Lahiri
Production Company: Musica, Mumbai
Recording Studio: Eardrum, Mumbai
Audio Engineer: Dereck
Sound Design Company: Eardrum, Mumbai
Sound Design By: Dereck
Voice-Over: Manoj Shetty/Juhi Chatturvedi


Download audio [MP3 352 KB 00:00:45 64kbps Stereo 44 kHz]
Category: Radio
Award: Silver
Ad: "Table Tennis"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Client: Videocon Industries Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: Piyush Pandey
Executive Creative Director: Sumanto Chattopadhyay
Creative Director: Shekhar Jha
Copywriter: Karn Singh
Agency Producer: Diya Lahiri
Production Company: Musica, Mumbai
Recording Studio: Eardrum, Mumbai
Audio Engineer: Dereck
Sound Design Company: Eardrum, Mumbai
Sound Design By: Dereck
Voice-Over: Manoj Shetty


Download video [00:01:31 FLV 1.92 MB]
Download hi-res video [00:01:31 AVI 4.96 MB]
Download for mobile [00:01:31 3GP 1.66 MB]
Category: Television & Cinema
Award: Silver
Ad: "Gas"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Client: Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: Piyush Pandey
Group Creative Director: Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar
Associate Creative Director: Ramamurthy S
Copywriters: Ramamurthy S/Vinod Sudheer/Gururaj Rao/Sweta Ghorawat
Agency Producer: Deepa Limaye
Production Company: Nirvana Films, Bangalore
Executive Producer: Mekala Krishnaswamy
Producer: Mekala Krishnaswamy
Director: Prakash Varma
Director of Photography: PS Vinod/Tassaduq
Editor: Sally Salgaonkar
Sound Design Company: Famous Studios - Darshan VG, Mumbai
Sound Design: Nirvana Films
Music Arrangers: Rupert Fernandes/Anandh Ranganathan



Download video [00:02:01 FLV 2.62 MB]
Download hi-res video [00:02:01 AVI 6.74 MB]
Download for mobile [00:02:01 3GP 2.27 MB]
Category: Television & Cinema
Award: Silver
Ad: "Rusty Nail"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Client: Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: Piyush Pandey
Group Creative Director: Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar
Associate Creative Director: Ramamurthy S
Copywriters: Ramamurthy S/Vinod Sudheer/Gururaj Rao/Sweta Ghorawat
Agency Producer: Deepa Limaye
Production Company: Nirvana Films, Bangalore
Executive Producer: Mekala Krishnaswamy
Producer: Mekala Krishnaswamy
Director: Prakash Varma
Director of Photography: PS Vinod/Tassaduq
Editor: Sally Salgaonkar
Sound Design Company: Famous Studios - Darshan VG, Mumbai
Sound Design: Nirvana Films
Music Arrangers: Rupert Fernandes/Anandh Ranganathan


Download video [00:02:01 FLV 2.57 MB]
Download hi-res video [00:02:01 AVI 6.56 MB]
Download for mobile [00:02:01 3GP 1.66 MB]
Category: Television & Cinema
Award: Silver
Ad: "Presence"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
Client: Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd
Chief Creative Officer: Piyush Pandey
Group Creative Director: Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar
Associate Creative Director: Ramamurthy S
Copywriters: Ramamurthy S/Vinod Sudheer/Gururaj Rao/Sweta Ghorawat
Agency Producer: Deepa Limaye
Production Company: Nirvana Films, Bangalore
Executive Producer: Mekala Krishnaswamy
Producer: Mekala Krishnaswamy
Director: Prakash Varma
Director of Photography: PS Vinod/Tassaduq
Editor: Sally Salgaonkar
Sound Design Company: Famous Studios - Darshan VG, Mumbai
Sound Design: Nirvana Films
Music Arrangers: Rupert Fernandes/Anandh Ranganathan

Not Hot Enough: ETC Dress Circle Pia Trivedi Ad

Delhi Times reports/advertises that the ad for model-VJ Pia Trivedi's new show on ETC channel, Dress Circle, is "too hot to handle."

And the Censor Board has asked for cuts in the promo (to be shown in cinema theatres) as they were "too hot and daring" and even post the cuts it would be released "only in theatres running films with an 'A' ccertificate."

Obviously, I got curious and decided to have a look at the "hot" ad and was disappointed to find it a bit damp.

Sexy yes but unhandleably hot? Definitely not.


Download video [00:00:25 FLV 558 KB]
Download for mobile [00:00:25 3GP 479 KB]

Edgy!
Sexy!
Hardcore!
Prepare to be a part of my circle...
Dress Cirlce
Under Bollywood's skin!
Circle of movies...
With me Pia
Every Friday
Only on ETC
Every Friday 7:30 PM

Pia Trivedi in ETC Dress Cirlce promo photo gallery:



If you want to watch a really hot ad for a TV show have a look at this: Hot Ad for India's Hottest.

Young Salman and Lime n Lemony Limca

Salman Khan did a bit of modelling (like many other Bollywood stars) before making it big on the big screen. I remember having a poster of Salman in a bike advertisement (cant recall which).

This is a very young Salman (though he still doesn't look his age) playing football and quenching his thirst with some lime and lemony Limca.


Download video [00:01:05 FLV 1.39 MB]
Download hi-res video [00:01:05 AVI 5.84 MB]
Download for mobile [00:01:05 3GP 1.24 MB]

Who can forget his first victory?
Limca with isotonic salts to quench your thrist

Fun time Limca time
Young time Limca time
Masti time Limca time
Lime n Lemony Limca

Who can forget his first love?
Togetherness with lime n lemoni Limca

Fun time...

Who can forget his first journey?
Safely travel with zero bacteria Limca

Fun time...
Limca Limca

Catchy tune? Catch it for your mobile


Download ringtone [MP3 129 KB 00:00:08 128kbps Stereo 44 kHz]

Aamir and the lovely Gul in Tata Sky Plus Ad

When the teasers were running (Aamir Khan doing all the housework) I was wondering what product is? Now that I know, I'm more than pleased to also find the charming Gul Panag as Aamir's better half in the TVC.

The agency is O&M and this is one of the better ads that Aamir has been seen in (he is usually too full of himself).

Aamir tries to act as a 'good' husband waking his wife - Gul Panag - in the morning, making a breakfast of scrambled eggs, slightly burnt toast and carrot juice and also packing her lunch. Checks the fridge for necessities annd gets them on the way back from work. Also offers to make the evening tea... all to watch a cricket match that clashes with a Saas-Bahu serial.

But Tata Sky Plus hain naa... isko laga dala to life aur bhi jhingalala.


Download video [00:01:06 FLV 1.51 MB]

Tata Sky+ is a DTH personal video recorder service that allows users to record, pause and rewind live TV (wonder when will we able able to fast forward it) and the hardware (Digicomp) costs Rs 8,999 plus installation and other charges. I'll wait a while for the prices to drop.

Cutting the Chai: Now Widgetised

Now you can embed your customised Cutting the Chai widget at (almost) any place online - blog, Twitter, Facebook, iGoogle, iPhone, Netvibes, Pageflakes, Windows Live...

In case you also need this blog on your fridge door - print this page and use a magnet to stick it there.

Powered by Grazr, I found it to be a worthwhile enhancement for this blog.

Click on the 'Share' link on the widget to do whatever you want to do with it. You can also customise the look and feel.

Or if you have a weakness for blocks of code, here it is:

<div style="height:350px;width:300px;"><a href="http://grazr.com/read?view=s&theme=gloss_black&file=http://feeds.feedburner.com/CuttingTheChai" ><img alt="Cutting the Chai" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h53/soumyadip/Blog/soumyadip.png" style="border:none"></a><script defer="defer" type="text/javascript" src="http://static.grazr.com/gzloader.js?view=s&theme=gloss_black&file=http://feeds.feedburner.com/CuttingTheChai"></script></div>
Adjust the dimensions (and other stuff) if you need to.

The above widget displays only the consolidated feed for all the latest posts on Cutting the Chai. But many of you might have a preference for only a/some specific flavours. You can get a widget to display only those posts filed under a particular label/category of your choice. Pick your pick from the dropdown list below.


Category Specific Widget
advertising

animation

art

audio

automobiles

bengalis

birds

blogging

book-reviews

books

business

cars

cartoons

chai

chrome

comics

computers

consumer awareness

cricket

delhi

desires

disasters

download

education

fantastic females

festivals

film-reviews

firefox

food

gadgets

general

google

grumbles

hack

happenings

helping hand

history

humour

icons

information

internet

isspecial cutting chai

issues

kids

lifestyle

lists

literature

magazines

media

media mentions

men

men n women

mobiles

motorcycles

movies

movies for mobiles

music

new features

news

newspapers

no idea

north east india

nostalgia

paintings

pakistan

people

photo

places

politics

post-from-the-past

psa

railway

railways

religion

reservation

reviews

ringtones

rubbers-of-india

school

sex

sexy-indian-ads

shillong

shopping

slideshows

special

sports

st-edmunds

stuff

stupid

tagging

technology

television

the-great-indian-ad-archive

theatre

thinking

tips-n-tricks

title image

travel

trivia

video

videos for mobiles

vintage-indian-ads

vintage-non-indian-ads

wear

web browsers

widgets

women



And I hope that some people might yet just prefer the good old way of physically visiting webpages.

Wanted: Debonair Girls

The 'Debonair' here is not to be confused with the adult blog, but the once 'revered' monthly men's magazine. This advertisement from the November 1987 issue invites girls to pose for Debonair magazine.

[Click to enlarge]

Show the world what you really are.

How often have you stared at yourself in a mirror - admired your beautiful features and figure - and wished you could let people see the way you really are? Now's your chance. We are looking for models for our colour photofeatures. The photographs will be shot by internationally renowed photographers like Adam Steven, Swapan Mukherjee and Chien Wien Lee. Selected models will be paid handsomely. Many of our models have launched into exciting careers in films and advertising from our pages. Why not you? Send two recent photographs (full length in a bikini and a closeup of the face) to The Editor, Debonair Publications Pvt Ltd, 41A, Dr E Moses Road, Worli, Bombay 400 018, mentioning your vital statistics, height, weight and age.

Be a Debonair girl.
Let people see the real you.

Magazines like Debonair found it difficult to get models for their pages and therefore perhaps needed to advertise to find some willing candidates.

Vinod Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Outlook Group, commenting on the news about Playboy launching an India edition:

Despite their deep-pockets that have lured Olympic stalwarts to become Playboy bunnies, the magazine will not be able to get high class girls from India to go nude, because of the taboo attached to it. This was a problem we faced even at Debonair!

The present avatar of Debonair doesn't seem to feature any topless models and has also toned down its content. But the glory days of the magazine are long over.

A couple of interesting bits (the more interesting in bold) about Debonair magazine that I found online:

Vinod Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Outlook Group (in an interview with Exchange4Media.com):

I was extremely lucky because I began my career as an editor at the age of 27. Not many people get this opportunity, and it’s a double-edged sword. I began as an editor because I met Sushil Somani who used to run Debonair and he was on the lookout for an editor. At that time and there were two homosexuals who used to run Debonair, a girlie magazine - self-professed homosexuals. When I looked at the magazine, instead of women I saw men in jock straps, and there were more pretty men in the magazine than there were pretty women!

So I had to learn how to redesign the magazine. Nobody would agree to be interviewed; nobody would agree to write for us. I had to beg people. And Pataudi was the first person I thought of because I wanted to start the Playboy interview kind of thing. Pataudi was quite big at that time and he agreed for the interview. Since no one was prepared to write for Debonair at that time, I wrote four articles under different names in the first issue just to show people how I wanted the magazine to develop. I started from there, and then we had people like Nissim Ezekiel writing for us; I discovered Iqbal Masood; Anil Dharkar started contributing regularly.

But there was always something sleazy associated with the magazine. I could put any amount of "intellectual" or what I thought was good literary material but I could not change the image of the magazine. Mr Vajypyee gave us an interview and when I met him later to thank him, he told me, "I had to keep your magazine under my pillow." That’s the day I decided to quit. In the seven years that I had been there I could not change the way the magazine was perceived. I conceded defeat.

Interestingly Mr Mehta doesn't have a single copy of the magazine that readers don't forget to remind him of whenever Outlook does a sex special.

Since, like most journalists, I don’t keep a record of any articles, I have no idea what I’ve written since my Debonair days. In fact, I do not have a single issue of Debonair.

Busybee aka Behram Contractor (in one of his columns):

Then one day we he was to become the editor of a magazine that was to be brought out on the lines of Playboy or Esquire. It was to be called Debonair.

The count did become the editor; he used to bring proofs of articles for the magazine to the Society Bar and edit them with a gold ballpoint pen. And he used to complain softly about the lack of knowledge of England of his Indian contributors.

He himself used to write: on what to wear, how to mix drinks, what after-shave lotions to use, etc. The readers did not much care and Debonair almost closed down. In those days also magazines used to close down, though not magazines of the reputation of the Illustrated Weekly and Filmfare. The count was sacked. In those days also editor got sacked, though not editors of the calibre of Vinod Mehta.

And it was this same Vinod Mehta that proprietor Sushil Somani picked on as his new editor. Mr Mehta made it more Playboy and less Esquire. Which was clever: because Debonair started acquiring an ever widering readership among males in little towns in Punjab, Haryana, UP and Bihar, and in Delhi, Monthly, the letters column would be filed with debates among readers on whether the semi-dressed girl on the centrefold in, August was better than the one in July or worse than the one in June.

Mr Mehta's office was in the middle of Claridges Press on Mint Road, next to Sacru's City Kitchen, and he sat in it with walls covered with five years of his centrefolds. That was the nearest Mr Mehta got to his pin-ups, though everybody thought he was having a ball of a time.

Mr Mehta's successor, young Anil Dharkar, got somewhat nearer the models. Occassionally he would pose with them. And sometimes his pictures would appear without the models.

His successor, Dilip Thakore, took himself, his job, and the magazine too seriously. He tried to put Debonair in a slot between Business India and Business World. In doing so, he not only lost his job but poor Sushil Somani lost his magazine.

Now, after 18 years, there is a new proprietor and an editor who was the de facto editor all these years. The circle has been complete, from the count to Adil Jussawalla.

Deluxe Nirodh (In Pink)

This blog first saw a spurt in its pageviews in July-August 2006 thanks to a post titled Rubbers of India, something that has now developed into a complete section.

And when we talk of rubbers of India, the first brand that comes to mind is Nirodh.

It was the revelation of the underlying meaning of the classic "Pyar hua iqrar hua, pyar se phir kyon darta hain dil (Love happened, acceptance happened. Why does the heart then fear love?)," with the addition "Deluxe Nirodh aath aane mein teen (Deluxe Nirodh/condoms three for 50 paise)," that I became aware of the existence of the rubber sheath. The ad has the greatest recall value amongst all contraceptive advertisements in India. We kids loved it and put a price on our classmates, 50p for 3 - cheap. But one condom cost soft drink major Pepsi dear - Rs 1,23,000 to be precise.

A Deluxe Nirodh ad that I found in a June 1992 issue of Filmfare (it was then Rs 1.50 for five).


Deluxe Nirodh
Now available in pink
Rs 1.50 for five
The right condom for spacing your family

Related posts:

· Innovative Condom Photography
· Kamasutra: The Adventures of Rani Bonkeshwari
· KS Roleplay Ads
· Moods Please!
· What's Your Flavour of the Night?
· Big B in Durex Condom Ad
· Love with the Lights On
· What's Wrong with This Ad?
· Rubbers of India - II
· Rubbers of India

Mallika Sherawat Before She Became Mallika Sherawat

Mallika Sherawat (previously known as Reema Lamba) dabbled a bit in modelling, before the 17-kiss-disaster Khwaish (2003).

The following advertisement (quite sombre and modest by Mallika's present standards) is from the December 1999 issue of Zee Premiere.


When fashion goes beyond the ordinary...
Saboos
Womenswear, Menswear, Kidswear, Accessories
D-1, South Extension Part II, New Delhi - 49
Tel: 6258188, 6257085
15 MG Road, Bangalore
Tel: 5597888, 5585519
Visit us at: www.saboosworld.com

Related posts:

· Desi Girls Climb Up AskMen.com's Top 99 Ladder

Cutting the Chai via SMS

In addition to the existing RSS/Atom feeds and Email alerts you can now subscribe to Cutting the Chai updates via SMS (courtesy Google SMS Channels).

You can either go here and do the needful (need to have a Google account) or

SMS
'ON CuttingtheChai'
to 9870807070

You'll then receive a confirmation message and the last message posted on CuttingtheChai channel.

There are also provisions to fine tune the delivery of SMSes (time, quantity etc) as per your requirements.

And yes, it's free (you might need to pay - standard rates - for the subscription SMS if you are registering via phone).

If you have any further queries, you'll find the answers here.

Sachin, Sunny and a Nice Song

SRT is India's biggest superstar. There's no doubt about it. And he has further fortified his iconic status overshadowing Brian Lara's mammoth 11,953 Test runs total.

Being a superstar it is obvious that he would have endorsed many a brand. And amidst the all high profile endorsements Sachin Tendulkar also appeared in ads for Bajaj Sunny - the scooterette (This was before the record Rs 31.5 crore deal with WorldTel).

To celebrate Sachin's (yet another) record here's the ad that I found in a February 1994 issue of The Sportstar.


"Ride the red hot super looker teen machine"
- Sachin Tendulkar
Bajaj Sunny
55 KMPL · 50 CC · No Gears · Easy Kick Start · Spare Wheel · Price Rs 12,000 (ex-showroom price Delhi)
Bajaj Auto Ltd
Akrudi, Pune 411035

Agency: Lintas

And the nice Bajaj Sunny Zip TVC with the nice song (this doesn't have Sachin in it).


Download video [00:00:47 FLV 1.01 MB]
Download hi-res video [00:00:47 AVI 4.84 MB]
Download for mobile [00:00:47 3GP 928 KB]

The ringtone/audio only version:

Download ringtone [MP3 707 KB 00:00:45 128kbps Stereo 44 kHz]

Lyrics:
First you say you're always with me,
Because being with me is fun.
Say you'll go the whole distance,
Since the love that you found.
All right. Come on, what's going on?
What you're thinkin'?
Then you say you need me,
Like the garden needs rain.
Then you go and deceive me,
Like it's all in the game...
All in the game.

Text:
Easy come. Easy Go
Bajan Sunny Zip

If I'm not mistaken the agency behind this ad is Contract Advertising and it got them an Abby gold in 1997.

Review: Foldable USB Speakers (Tech-Com SSD-510U)

Most laptop don't usually boast of robust sound and therefore external accessories like headphones/earphones or a set of speakers become a necessity for an optimal listening experience.

But then laptop are meant to be portable but most speakers aren't and earphones don't lend themselves to group listening. So when I came across this set of USB powered speakers from Tech-Com (SSD-510U), I was immediately interested. Did a bit of testing and bought it home (as an additional accessory for my Asus Eee PC 1000H).

The biggest advantage is the size and the fact that it folds into two (like a clamshell) to make itself even more portable (see images below).

It doesn't need a driver in modern operating systems (though it comes equipped with a CD) to run and you can simply plug in to your USB post and listen. And also has a little stand to help keep it upright. But there is always a chance of misplacing the little stand.

The sound quality isn't that great, but better than most in-built laptop speaker output (and louder too, but not party loud). It is also more of treble and less of bass. If it is bass that gives you the boost, then this might not be the best choice.

Moreover it doesn't come with volume controls so all the controlling has to be done through the laptop/PC.


Open and plugged in (notice the red right glowing). Compared to a DVD.


Closed. The stand and a DVD lie besides.


Held in the palm of my hand for a better idea of the size.

Being USB powered means that it is a bit different from other speakers that you plug into the headphones socket. If you are listening to something while you plug the USB speakers, the sound wouldn't get transferred from your internal speakers to the external speakers. For that you have to shut the application and restart it again. A small pain.

But for a price of Rs 400 (the printed price reads Rs 699), it seems paisa-wasool.

The packaging says 460 Watts PMPO and doesn't mention any RMS rating. PMPO is dubious, we all know that. And it is manufactured in China.

If you aren't very finicky about the quality of your sound and are looking for portable speakers that you can carry around in your laptop bag, it might be a worthwhile purchase. But the timbre conscious might have to look elsewhere.

[Dealer details: Spiral Systems & Networks, 120 Mansarovar, 90 Nehru Place, New Delhi 110019 | Phone +91 11 2629 2660 | Mobile +91 11 1126 6280]

Stupid Profile Names on Orkut

To say that Orkut is popular here in India would be a gross understatement. And since it is popular you cannot afford to stay away from it (for long) and especially if you are in the online business you just cannot afford to.

Thanks to so many people being in there I'm now in (remote) touch with a number of old friends.

But I get flummoxed when I get a scrap from someone called "IM oN tHE 7tH HeAVen aNd In NO mOdd 2 GEt DoWn." Good for you buddy if you're there and I wish you'd stay there but at the same time I'd also like some clues towards your real, non CrAzY cased identity?

I then go snooping to the scrappers profile and try to hunt for clues - common friends, photos, videos, scraps, testimonials. Usually I make a good guess, but often am left clueless.

To many this might seem cool, but it actually defies the real purpose of social networking. One your identity gets camouflaged (unless it is a deliberate act) and someone looking for you there by your name wouldn't find you in the search results. And when you scrap someone, he/she would be left wondering.

Some clever chaps have found a way out, they insert their names in some other field, eg city, and hence get featured in the profile search results.

Maybe Orkut should give these bacchas some other field where they can let their creative energies roam free while I get to know who is scrapping me.

Thankfully, my Facebook friend's list is still sane. Maybe because Facebook emphasises on the 'real name'. Or are my Facebook friends saner than my Orkut ones? Or people tend to be proper on Facebook and go crazy on Orkut? Maybe I'm getting old?

Preview Multimedia Files While Downloading

How often did you blindly download a large multimedia files (video, movie, audio, music) from the internet (especially file sharing websites) and found that the quality or the content wasn't what you had expected?

And you might have kept your PC on for hours and used considerable bandwidth (especially if you have a pay-as-you-use internet connection), not to mention the time you had to waste to check the status of the download (I often happened to find my files in some undecipherable language).

Some download accelerators do have a feature to preview the multimedia files being downloaded but then many of us might have a preference for other download accelerators, that sadly don't have such a preview feature. Moreover many sites restrict downloading through download accelerators.

This simple trick will let you preview the initial portions of the file even while it is being downloaded (advanced users please excuse the elaboration).

On many other sites (like archive.org) you needn't follow the process and the files tend to play easily even while they are downloading. This post is more targeted towards previewing while downloading from sites such as Rapidshare, Sharedzilla and the like.

I'm still on Windows XP, therefore am not sure whether the steps involved would be the same on other operating systems too (It is still the most used).

Browser Download

This doesn't seem to work on Internet Explorer and Google Chrome (though you may give it a try). Therefore this is Firefox specific (didn't test on other less popular browsers).

If you don't have Firefox, get it. Chrome still has some catching up to do.

Before you initiate this (ignore this step if file extensions are visible) open any folder > on the File menu go to Tools > Click on Folder Options > Select the View Tab > Under Advanced Settings deselect the 'Hide extensions of known file types' check box > Click Apply - OK.



This will help us in the steps to follow.

Now download the file you wish you using Firefox. In the folder that the file is being download you'll find two files bearing similar file names, but one will bear an additional .part extension.

Now create a new folder and copy/paste the file with the .part extension into it. If you don't want to create a new folder you can paste the file in any folder other than the one that it is being downloaded in.

Then rename the file (right click, or two left clicks but with a pause in between, or from the right click context menu) to remove the .part extension. Now your file is ready for preview.



This might involve a number of steps, but I find it better than spending hours downloading something that I'd then have to delete.

Downloads via Download Manager

If you're using a download manager/accelerator (many sites don't support download accelerators) then in the folder that the file is getting downloaded to you might similarly find another file with the same fie name but an additional extension (the extension might differ from accelerator to accelerator).

In my preferred download manager Orbit - it is .ob!.

Follow the steps mentioned above and happy previewing.