A glass of steaming milky syrupy tea is best served cut. One by two or two by three, it embodies the spirit of sharing and camaraderie (and more significantly a resource crunch). Come, have a sip.
She's one porn star who has everyone 'excited', right from the government babus to the editors in the newsrooms.
Though Savita Bhabhi has been back after the ban via a new domain, the resurrection also seems to have been obstructed. The new website www.kirtu.com doesn't seem accessible directly (there's always the other way around), atleast on the ISPs that I use. Apparently the process of denying access to the new website has already been initiated.
Shunned by her own government, Savita Bhabhi has found succour with the French. "France gives sexual asylum to Savita Bhabhi," could scream a headline (just couldn't resist using the term).
It might seem that, like our television channels, I'm blowing things out of proportion. Well, I am.
Titled Love in Bollywood also Bollywood in Love (depending on the cover you look at) the book was released a month back on October 22, 2009. The 96-page comic book authored by Deshmukh, has been designed by Dexstar and Madman (all pseudonyms).
The book, Bollywood in Love - les Aventures de Savita Bhabhi, (Bollywood in Love - The Adventures of Savita Bhabhi) is also available on Amazon France for €13.25.
All bans aren't bad, as many Bollywood producers would agree. The Indian government's restriction Savita Bhabhi has made her India's most famous porn star ever.
The widespread media coverage and online discussions have generated more following for the cartoon porn star than the ones in flesh and blood - Shakeela, Sunny Leone, Angela Devi, Priya Rai - put together.
Now that she's been published in other languages too, Savita Bhabhi might find a place along with the Kamasutra and Khajuraho whenever sex and India are mentioned together in the same sentence anywhere in the world.
The Seven Deadly Sins, in a way, summarises a day in the life of the Chaiwallah. And they sound so much more appealing in Latin: luxuria (lust), gula (gluttony), avaritia (greed), acedia (sloth), ira (wrath), invidia (envy) and superbia (pride).
Envy - Be thy neighbour's envy Lemax The Jean Co.
Gluttony - Bite more than you can chew Lemax The Jean Co. Greed - Want more than you shall need Lemax The Jean Co.
Lust - Leave a lusting impression Lemax The Jean Co.
Pride - Narcissism be thy religion Lemax The Jean Co.
Sloth - Thou shall love inertia Lemax The Jean Co.
Wrath - Thou shall not hold back thy fury Lemax The Jean Co.
And in case you haven't noticed, there is an apple (partially eaten) in each of them. Apple - the original sin.
A couple of other Seven Sins ads from other countries:
Seven Sins on five floors Harvey Nicols Beauty
(Harvey Nicols is an upmarket department store chain)
The Seven Deadly Sins Seven special programmes to lead you astray 13ème Rue The Crime Channel
(13ème Rue is a French cable channel)
Algida Magnum 7 Sins
The language might be different, but we get the meaning. Magnum had also released individual ads focussing on each of the Seven Deadly Sins.
(Algida is Wall's, the ice-cream manufacturer, in Italy)
And if these ads have tickled your inner sinner and now you want delve deeper. Here's, for you, Frederick Rogers' 1907 book The Seven Deadly Sins:
Though Scribd seems to be the preferred place for sharing documents online, Issuu has a much better media viewer. And like Scribd it has some disadvantages (some intentional). Direct linking to a page is a bit tricky, though you can extract the URL changing the options for generating the embed code. And since the viewers are in flash downloading the images (you can easily download PDFs if it is not disabled, even if it is you can) are a bit tricky. You could get them from the browser cache, but that process is a bit tedious.
Now you might ask, why would you need an image of a magazine page or a document? For the same reason you need to download an YouTube video?
Thankfully in Issuu it isn't very difficult and I've made it a little easier. If you need to download or link to a particular page of a document hosted on Issuu, all that you need to do is insert the document ID and the page number in this form (the first two fields) and the URL of the image would automatically appear on the third field. Copy it and paste the URL wherever you want to.
Where do you find the Document ID? If you are using Firefox/Chrome, press Ctrl+U (or go to View » Page Source) to view the source code of the page (in IE you should find in the Page dropdown). Then do a Crtl+F and search for documentId. You'll find something like this:
Before you get any ideas about me turning an author, let me clarify that the chaiwallah in question isn't the faux tea vendor who maintains this blog but a genuine one who has penned 18 books over 30 years. Watch the story of Laxman Rao aka Lekhakji.
The headline may sound as sensational as if it was from one of the television news channels (who are a major source of worry for the K-queen Ekta Kapoor). Though any such possibility might seem remote now (but you never know the ways of war) an Edmundian, Nitya Anand Chepuri has conjured this idea in his novel Tarbela Damned - Pakistan Tamed.
I'm yet to read the book (will go looking for it today) but the plot does sound exciting, especially for a generation who have been brought up on the idea that our 'pesky' neighbour is the reason for all our ills. Two men who studied together in school - St. Edmund's Shillong - and then went on to IIT Madras. The Hindu, Rahul Sharma joins the RAW and the Jew, Solomon Rabban, migrates to Israel and joins the Mossad. The Irish Republican Army angle is due to the influence of an Irishman, Brother Manahan, who taught them in School (St. Edmund's is run by the Christian Brothers founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice at Waterford, Ireland). They join hands in pursuit of their mission, taming Pakistan.
There might be some parallels in the story line with the author's life who had studied in St. Edmunds before passing out from the Defence Services Public School and graduating from IIT Madras. He then went on to join the army. The reviews say that "there is no off-putting jingoism and no cold-bloodedness," which is indeed welcome for a novel with a title like Tarbela Damned - Pakistan Tamed. Tarbela Dam, built across the river Indus, is Pakistan's largest dam and is therefore of vital importance for the country. And Pakistanis on hearing of an 'imminent danger' to it are understandably worried. Anand pointed me to a Pakistani military and strategic discussion forum, where some members took the plot of the novel for real and posted interesting reactions. Here are a few samples (unedited):
* I can understand RAW and MOSSAD masterminding something but how does the Irish military come into this? Is this some troops in Afghanistan?
Anyway these dams need proper protection because RAW and MOSSAD can send mindcontrol zombies to do a suicide bombing on one of them. Dams are fragile and very hard to fix. I think its against the geneva convention to even bomb a damn during war.
* dams are not military targets, in war you are not meant to hit dams and if someone does then they will be nuked
* If the military stay in power then any such attack would be considered an act of war against pakistan. Doesn't matter who does it, Talibs or not, without dams pakistan would go down the drain. This is why we would ensure India goes down with us, meaning All nukes to indian and israeli cities. Also the factor of Indian nukes beng called a bluff, cause we're not sure if they can actually nuke us or not.
* Tell me a single time when the indian or israielies show honesty
* just imagine........ Bhakra Nangal Dam Damned, Bhangies tamed. Ranjit Sagar Dam Damned, Bhangies tamed. Gobind Sagar Dam Damned, Bhangies tamed.
Some comments were more realistic:
* it was just a novel by an indian writer. The West, including Israel is not interested in de-stabilizing Pakistan.
Well, I learnt another thing from the thread. Indians are referred to as Bhangies across our western border - maybe due to the still prevalent caste system in our country.
Most well-meaning Indians do not want an instable western neighbour even though we might have fought many wars, the scars of which might take long to heal. Pakistan's stability is good for India. Being surrounded by so-called failed states is a precarious situation in today's volatile times. If India has to develop into a super power that it aspires to be, there has to be political stability and economic growth in all of South East Asia. Because the ground realities here are much different from what existed in the American continents.
What is the difference between an alphabet and a letter? Many people (including some editors) confuse alphabet for letter. 'Z' is a letter, not an alphabet. It isn't the alphabet Z, it is the letter Z. Alphabet is the complete character set - A to Z (or whatever, according to the script), letters are the elements within.
Here's a primer in the alphabet (with translations in Devanagri/Hindi). Note the classic drawing style, also found in calendar art and early movie posters. Reminds me of my nursery classes. Kids (and even grownups) were as a rule - chubby, reflecting the traditional Indian preferences, until anorexic models filled magazine pages and the boob tube.
That photograph in the history book didn’t look into my eye, but I felt something. The face had an appeal about it, I remembered seeing the face somewhere else, but it was difficult for me to recall. So I read what was printed along with - it said, I think, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna or simply Che Guevara. Che, because in Latin America, Argentines are addressed as such. It was about two decades ago (I already feel old writing 'two decades ago'). Today a later edition of the same book (I believe) doesn’t have that picture. Another victim of the saffronisation or the following detoxification of school texts?
The film based on his iconic travel diary - The Motorcycle Diaries - had been airing for quite some time on one of the movie channels, but I avoided watching it. I wanted to read the book first. Had somehow managed to not read that all these years and recently when I was bestowed with the responsibility of getting a gift for a colleague (who also happens to be a childhood friend), I got that book for him and rushed him to have his obligatory first-read and snatched it away. The long journey that I undertake everyday to work provided the non-so-ideal setting to read through the translated sentences that Ernesto wrote years before he became The Che. I didn’t think that I’d be able to finish off reading the slim volume (176 pages) as I have a modest collection of half-read books lining my shelves. But then it was Che, he went beyond my expectations (kudos to the translation by Alexandra Keeble). I boosted my ego comparing my thoughts with the 23-year-old Ernesto’s. His and his friend Alberto Granado’s escapades across South America is full with realistic humour and an understanding of the things happening at that time. The dislike for imperialism and the USA, the concern for the exploited and a zeal to live life in fun.
Occassionally politically incorrect (but always witty), shows a man of flesh and blood, not another iconic avatar created by panegyric biographers. Not only did I learn about the man whose image would inspire radical youth around the world and also provide a fashionable emblem (thanks to Alberto Korda) to clueless youngsters, I knew more and refreshed the little that I knew about Latin America, its culture, people, history and conflicts.
I also discovered a few other truths. For instance mighty names do not necessarily match the performance as La Poderosa II (The Mighty One), a Norton 500 motorcycle that they (Che and Alberto) set out to travel around in proved. The bike gave away midway through the arduous journey, somewhat discrediting the title of the book. Mate is not just another synonym for friend; it is also the Argentine national drink (a tea-like beverage made from the herb mate). Another is a quote attributed to Oscar Galvez (a champion Argentine rally driver), "When a piece of wire can replace a screw, give me the wire, it’s safer." And you also do not shoot anything which growls and has glowing eyes in a puma infested area; it just might be your hosts’ pet dog.
Travelling initially on the motorbike, occasionally on foot, in trucks, trains, vans, a ship, a raft, I went on a wonderful journey across an unknown world with an asthmatic biker who is also a photographer, writer, orator, doctor, leader, fighter… The writing style is not revolutionary, it is humane, more like the man himself.
[Video sample from the documentary El Che: Investigating a Legend (1998)] This video and other downloadables (videos, photos, MP3s) about Che Guevara are available here.
A suggestion: If you intend to read the book for the first time, read the introduction by Cintio Viter only after you’ve finished with whatever Che wrote. Knowing some things beforehand takes the fun away from the read.
Image credits: Photo 1 Scanned cover of the book, The Motorcycle Diaries Photo 2 store.che-lives.com Photo 3 Scanned from the book. Copyright Che Guevara Studies Centre, Havana
As the Gaizabonts pointed out "we haven’t done tags in a long time," and put this my way. I'll first go along with the tag, since it requires immediacy and then will explain the intricacies.
There was a loud murmur in the crowd and Zauq sat with a complacent look on his face counting the beads of his pearl necklace. "Is it true, Mirza Nausha?" the king emperor wanted to know. "Yes, huzoor," Mirza Ghalib admitted, "It's true - it is the first verse of the concluding couplet of my new ghazal." Zauq let the necklace go from his hand. The expression on his face was reduced to one of curiosity.
[From Mirza Ghalib - A Biographical Scenario by Gulzar]
Ten sentences:
Why is it that great abilities come piggybacking on equal egos? It is the mastery of ability over the ego that defines greatness and Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib possessed that. His spontaneous wit got him out of numerous cornered situations which he got himself in. Great that he was, was acknowledged in his lifetime, albeit a little late. But hailed he was, after his demise. Heard about him since childhood, only now that I'm getting to him better.
Ye masail-e tasawuff ye tera bayaan Ghalib Tujhe hum wali samajhte jo na baadaa-khwaar hota
(Ah Ghalib, the magic of your words and your ways with mystics! You would have been a saint - if you were not addicted to drink)
I didn't cheat (except for the concluding couplet). This book was the closest to my PC as it was the last book that I read. Was planning to write about the Mirza for sometime and this tag coincided.
Sanjay Patel, an animator with Pixar has kept most of the elements intact in his Little Book of Hindu Deities, but at the same time came up with an image of the goddess which can only be expressed in one word - cute. A friend says she is Amul Butter Girl cute.
There are other 'cute' gods and goddesses in the book (I haven't seen the book, this impression is from what's there on the website), but the transformation of Kali beats them all. Have a look:
There are two wallpapers available on the site for your desktop. One is Kali, the other is of Ganesha - the most artist friendly of the 330 million Hindu gods and goddesses (noticed that the media uses the unisex term, actor for both males and females in the acting profession. Does it apply for the deities too?). And thanks to Aquarianalien for pointing out the site.
I was waiting for the hullabaloo over the latest in the Potter series to wither a little before I started writing this. I feared that my voice would be lost in all the cacophony. So now when relative calm prevails I begin...
Who is Harry Potter? I've heard of him, but I don't know him. Six bestsellers (this is an understatement), and I haven't read a word from any of them. Does this mean that I will be lynched by millions (there might be more) of Potter maniacs for my ignorance? I might reason with the mob that I've crossed the compulsory Potter reading age (what is it by the way?), but the little girl with blonde streaks partly hidden beneath a witch's hat, pointing her broom at me will shriek, "My Grandma's 90, and she's potty over Potter!!" "With a grand daughter like you, do you think she has any other option?" my quivering mind ponders. Lesson of Life: When a mob attacks, reasoning doesn't work, running for your life does. And will I discover that those costly sport shoes (costly only because of advertising expenses and dealer margins) out pace the witches' brooms (something must be wrong with the ignition there, they won't simply budge off the ground). And I will live another day to write this post.
In spite of my imaginary brush with the wannabe wizards and witches, I'm grateful to Joanne Kathleen Rowling that in this era of cable TV and video games, the kids (and many grownups too) haven't forgotten the dying habit of book reading.
When I was a kid (and that's not too long ago) we didn't have the electronic media to hype up things for us and influence our tastes and preferences. Therefore we often didn't know what's 'happening'. Apart from sports (the ones played out in the sun and not on electronic gizmos) and a little television (only one channel for a few hours a day) we had to be content with books and comics.
Books ignited our imaginations. Comics gave shape and colour to them. Folklores, fairy tales, Stories from the Arabian Nights, Panchatantra, Jataka Tales... I read them all. Enid Blyton provoked my fantasy flights; I looked for life in my toys. Hardy Boys, a little of Nancy Drew, Secret Seven, Famous Five led to many misadventures.
Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Ruskin Bond et al. tickled my literary aspirations. With Jules Verne and HG Wells for company I went twenty thousand leagues under the sea in my endeavour to go around the world in eighty days, so that I could be back in time for my next journey to the centre of the earth in order to escape the war of the worlds.
I too wore my underpants over my trousers, used a towel for a cape and tried to fly. Always wished if Shillong (my home town) would be a little more like Riverdale and Xanadu or at least the Skull Cave my home. Always wanted to drink the magic potion and beat the shit out of the Pakistanis (it was ingrained in our psyche that all Pakistanis were India's enemies, but time and understanding has thankfully healed those misapprehensions)
Rowling missed me by a few years, because by the time the first of her legendary series hit the stands, I was already in college and had started preferring books without pictures (but I still go loony over toons) and other adult literature (yes, that includes porn too). And today, when I see all the ballyhoo surrounding Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, I'm for a moment tempted. But the overnight queues outside bookstores and the uninviting price tag of Rs. 895 (India's per capita income is Rs. 20,989) made me deduce this: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince = 22.375 bottles of beer.
She's one porn star who has everyone 'excited', right from the government babus to the editors in the newsrooms.
Though 
