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Friday, December 25, 2009

Don't Worry Your Holidays are Safe. Ignore that SMS

No space for new messagesMultiple instances of this SMS landed in my mobile's inbox:

Sare papo ka saja agle saal milegi
holidays in 2010
26jan-sun
16mar-sun/holi
1may-sun
15aug-sun
2oct-sun
17octsun/dussera
5nov-sun/diwali
25dec-sunday

And in our holiday-obsessed nation it is spreading like wildfire.

But the fact is that most of the date-day combinations do not hold true in the calendar for 2010.

Here's the official version [PDF] of the holidays in 2010.
Republic Day - January 26, Tuesday

Holi - March 1, Monday

May Day - May 1, Saturday

Independence Day - August 15, Sunday

Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday - October 2, Saturday

Dussehra - October 17, Sunday

Diwali - November 5, Friday

Christmas - December 25, Saturday

So relax, most of the holidays (for those with a six-day week) are still safe. And just don't frantically forward any SMS that comes you way.

Damn, for a moment I too was scared. Whew!

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Watch Online: Sant Tukaram (1936)



Sant Tukaram (1936) is one of the 20 greatest films ever made in India, according to T20 of Indian Cinema list at The 40th International Film Festival.

Since this movie was released more than 60 years ago, it, according to the Copyright Act of 1957 [PDF], is in the public domain.

Language: Marathi

Director: Damle and Fatehlal

Cast: Vishnupant Pagnis, Sri Bhagwat, Pandit Damle, Shankar Kulkarni, Kusum Bhagwat, Master Chhotu, B Nandrekar, Gauri

[Video source: taxpro999 on YouTube]

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Monday, December 21, 2009

Desi Jugaad: The Motorcycle Rickshaw

Motorcycle RickshawDesi jugaad or Indian ingenuity is legendary. Be it churning lassi in washing machines or using condoms to provide a smooth finish to tarred roads, necessity is the mother of amazing inventions in our nation. Even governments here run on jugaad.

Yesterday, in Vaishali, the boom town of Ghaziabad, came across a rickshaw that looked a little different, with headlights, indicators and all. On further investigation, discovered an engine beneath the seat.

The driver/owner of the rickshaw (I cannot recollect his name) says that his motorcycle rickshaw contraption is one-of-its-kind in the area.

He charges a premium of Rs 5 over the usual rickshaw fare in exchange for speed. Fitted with a moped engine, the motorcycle rickshaw (or should we call it a moped rickshaw?) gives 40 kilometres to the litre. He assures that his vehicle wouldn't topple if it encounters a bump at 40 kmph (the top speed according to him).

Asked about braking, "Power brakes," he replies with pride.

His only worry is that the transport department says that he cannot ply his vehicle without a license plate, something he expects to get soon.

With the narrow cycle rickshaw tyres, travelling at high speeds doesn't seem to be a good idea. Moreover the absense of proper suspension wouldn't make the journey very comfortable in the bylanes of Ghaziabad.

Photos


Watch slideshow in fullscreen

It is quite common to find carts (thelas) fitted with scooter engines on Indian roads, but it was the first time that I saw a petrol-powered cycle rickshaw. Do let me know if such example exist elsewhere.

By the way, what happened to the much hyped solar-powered rickshaws that were supposed to be launched in Delhi?

Video



And here's a bit of rickshaw trivia. In 1902, hand-pulled rickshaws in Calcutta were priced at around Rs 160 to Rs 180. Would've been quite a sum then.

Related posts:· The Maruti 800 Pick-up
· James Bond Drives a Maruti 800
· Agra on the move

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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Ads for Oral Sex!

One day, in the comparatively innocent times that we grew up in, a friend announced, "I had oral sex." I and another friend present were stupefied. We were still in school. "Come, again," (no pun intended) we said. He repeated the four shattering words again, with extra emphasis.

Curious, we prodded for details and it turned out that our 'sexually gratified' pal had just talked a bit about sex with a girl on the phone. Being more enlightened, courtesy the agony column in The Teenager and quite a few magazines that we weren't exactly supposed to read then, we let our naive friend know of the dictionary meaning of oral sex.

But the times they have changed. When school kids nowadays talk of love, it isn't always platonic, as in our times (Damn, I already feel old).

Ads for oral sexEven newspapers do not shy away from advertising for fellatio services, as I discovered today. The massage parlour and escort services ads have been around for many years. Objections were raised, but such ads still fill in many column centimetres of the classifieds pages.

Since I'm on the look out for a new house, was scanning Times Classifieds, that comes along with the Sunday Times of India for properties. Under the 'Massage Parlours' head I discovered at least two ads quite brazenly peddling oral sex services. Only they interchanged a couple of letters (blowjob becomes blwojob), taking a cue from the spammers.

BANGKOK-STYLE-YOU-WORLD.CLASS Blwojob Ser Like Beautiful Charming Good Looking girl fully trained service staff CALL ASSH # 99********

REFRESHING.YOU-WORLD.CLASS Blwojob Ser By Beautiful Charming Good looking girl fully trained service staff Call KASHISH. 98********
Is it just me, or is there a striking similarity between the wordings of matrimonial ads and the ones above?

What's next? Fcuk!

(This could have been around for longer, just that I happened to notice it today)

This is one dhandha that doesn't go manda. Though I support legalising prostitution and quite agreed with the Supreme Court's observations on legalising the trade, but it isn't as easy a solution. Make a law and expect the world to fall in order.

The anti-legalising prostitution argument also makes sense (not the it's-against-our-culture kinds).

Kinda confusing.

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Monday, December 07, 2009

MegaWhats 2009: The National Open Quizzing Championships

MegaWhats 2009 is a mega quizzing event to be held across nine cities across the country simultaneously.

It's being held under the aegis of the Karnataka Quiz Association.

MegaWhats 2009

Details here »

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