rantlust

Posted by papi on June 11th 2008 in Crime, India, Rants
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Saw this story related to one of our own today. Some bloggers were surprised to see their content ripped off and posted on another site without their permission. When confronted about it, the site - which claims to be THE premier destination for Kerala tourism online - responded in true Mal (now there’s an appropriate bi-lingual pun) fashion with a torrent of misogynistic abuse. Read on and weep.

http://myinjimanga.blogspot.com/2008/06/stealing-threat-cyber-stalking-abuse.html

The funniest thing is that these same buffoons run a matrimonial site. With such a criminal mindset among its highest executives (the Shiva guy quoted extensively in the link above is their director of operations), who can bet against matrimonial pictures being used on their porn sites? I’m sure these guys have some director of Photoshop operations as well. Methinks this is a promotion just waiting for some sharp cyber-crime sleuth. Tourism, misogyny, matrimony, and porn - all in a day’s work for the fine people at Kerals.com. Buyer beware.

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Posted by riyer on May 22nd 2008 in Humor, India, News, Politics, Travel
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I figured that this story deserved a spoof - Here is my version of the same story.

American, Cutting Back, Plans $15 Pants Fee

Published: May 22, 2008
There’s an old saying about the best way to travel: bring half the clothes and twice the money.

Now may be the time to take that advice to heart and you had better not be Indian or Chinese.

American Airlines said Wednesday that it would soon start charging passengers for the clothes and shoes that they wear. $10 for cotton pants ($15 for Jeans) and $5 for Shirts ($7 for full-sleeved shirts). Additionally, American will charge $5 per shoe ($10 if they are hiking shoes) - if they are flying on a discounted fare. Asked why they charge per shoe and not for a pair of shoes, an American spokesperson said that as per the Americans with Disabilities Act, such pricing would be discriminatory.

The airline’s new policy — to take effect July15 — comes only weeks after many major carriers, including American, began charging $15 each way for checked baggage,

The new fee is just the latest example of airlines adding charges on top of rising airfares, even at the risk of angering travelers further, to make up for the billions of dollars they are losing as fuel prices soar. In an effort to reduce the weight and consequent fuel consumption, airlines continue to explore ways to reduce the weight and the clothes we wear are the latest target.

“It’s only going to get worse and worse,” said Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents employees at American. “Flight attendants are not trained to distinguish between running shoes and hiking shoes, and what if passengers decide not to wear any clothes so as not to pay the fee” said Glading?

American Airlines executives said they had little choice but to impose such fees, given that the price of jet fuel is up more than 80 percent from a year ago.

Airline industry losses could top $7.2 billion in 2008, Jamie Baker, an analyst with JPMorgan Chase, estimated this week. Airline shares were battered Wednesday, as oil surged to a record $133.17 a barrel. Stock in American’s parent company fell 24.2 percent, to $6.22 a share.

In another development, several airlines are considering charging Indians and Chinese an extra fee - because India and China are being blamed for soaring oil prices. The rise in global oil and food prices are being blamed on demand from India and China. Last week President Geroge W. Bush blamed the demand for food with higher nutrition among Indians as the reason for 9% inflation in food prices in the US.

In a surprising move American announced that for every snack purchased by a non-Indian and non-Chinese passenger, Indian and Chinese passengers on board will be assessed an extra fee.”We are looking for every opportunity to change our cost-structure and even President George Bush has said that food prices are rising because of increased demand in India and China, so it is only appropriate that we pass the price of food consumed by average Americans to the average Indian or Chinese.

“Our company and industry simply cannot afford to sit by hoping for industry and market conditions to improve,” American’s chief executive, Gerard J. Arpey, said Wednesday at a shareholder meeting.

To cut costs, the company also said Wednesday that it would eliminate toilet paper and running water from toilets. “The weight of toilet paper and water adds several hundred pounds to the gross weight of an airplane - this move is expected to save $5000 per year and increase share holder value” said Mr Arpey.

American is also considering charging access fees to toilets for discount fare passengers. Robert Harrell, an industry consultant, estimated that as many as 40 million American passengers could be subject to the new toilet access fee. American carries about 98 million travelers a year. With an average of 100 toilet access per flight, at $1 per toilet access this move could potentially net upwards of $40 million per year. “Each passenger will get a cup of water and 3 sheets of toilet paper and 5 minutes of access to the toilet” said Mr Arpey

Asked whether the Toilet paper charge will be arbitrarily passed on to fellow Indian and Chinese passengers, Mr Arpey said “No. We understand that they don’t use toilet paper in India and China, so we can’t charge them for that”

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Posted by anupcs on January 25th 2008 in Celebrity, Entertainment, Fashion, French-Surrender, India, Music, Politics
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Earlier this week, the Indian government was having a tough time figuring out the correct protocol of dealing with a visiting head of state’s girlfriend. French president Nicolas Sarkozy was coming to town and the rumor had it that he was bringing his new found love, former supermodel, Carla Bruni. One moment she was coming, the next, not. And now apparently she is going but separately. This is less troublesome but still a spot of bother for the protocol keepers as the couple are planning to visit that old monument of love, the Taj Mahal.

The global media has been all over the Sarkozy-Bruni romance as it’s not often that we get to see heads of state in the same predicament as a Hilton or Spears (please, I beg you, let’s leave Bill Clinton out of this). Even the bastions of serious journalism, The New York Times, The BBC, and horror of horrors, The Wall Street Journal (Rupert Murdoch is already showing his true colors at the newspaper) had lengthy articles on the relationship.

Bruni is quite familiar with this sort of attention having dated a who’s who of bad boys (Eric Clapton, Sir Mick Jagger, Vincent Perez, and even Kevin Costner). She retired from a lucrative modeling career (apparently she appeared in around 250 magazine covers) at the age of 30 and is now trying her hand at singing when she’s not visiting ancient monuments with Sarkozy. Lovers of French cinema will probably know that Bruni is the sister of noted French actress, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi. Today, the Journal even compared her to Norah Jones. Curious, I dug up a video of the woman singing on youtube and I have to admit, I am impressed (see below). Too bad the Sarkozy tie might actually hurt her singing career. Though, let’s hope not.

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Posted by papi on January 23rd 2008 in Art, India, Movies
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Recently, I rediscovered a true classic – a movie that I’d watched and enjoyed several times in years gone by, but had almost forgotten. The movie is Mughal-e-Azam, K. Asif’s magnum opus of Prince Salim (later to become Emperor Jahangir), and his ill-fated love for the beautiful courtesan Anarkali. The legend of Anarkali (literally - pomegranate blossom) has been immortalized in art, but its historical authenticity is disputed due to the lack of official records corroborating the story. There is a tomb in present day Lahore, Pakistan which is generally believed to be that of Anarkali, but historians are not sure if that is indeed the case. Regardless, it is a story that has drawn painters, poets, musicians, and of course, movie makers.

(Read more…)

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Posted by Suman on January 10th 2008 in Humor, India, Music, Raves
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A little late for the holidays, I know; I only just saw this (apologies for not being able to embed the video - my HTML is weak) yesterday, but I’ve been cracking up ever since! :)  Boymongoose, who appears to be the brainchild of a group of Australia-based Indians, has an entire album of re-worked Christmas carols, but as yet no further “videos”.  I’m looking forward to more!

Hat tip to my friend Joe for the link.

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Posted by crewcut on August 19th 2007 in India, Politics
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When I was in school and college, Indian politicians used to attribute their failures to the “Phoren Hand” (Foreign Hand). This most often referred to the Americans and the CIA. You hardly hear of it now and I guess that generation of politicians and journalists have passed.

The Indian left parties that support the coalition UPA government are threatening to pull the plug if the government signs the nuclear cooperation treaty with the US. Whether the government will stay in power or not is uncertain but what is certain is the fact that the nuclear deal is doomed despite US threats that it’s either now or never.

Who is the biggest loser? India as a whole, as we will miss our target of 20,000 MW of power generation coming from nuclear sources by 2020. Lack of electricity will put a slow brake on the growth of our economy and wouldn’t a certain neighboring communist Asian superpower like to see that happen?

Maybe this is why the Indian communists have been so busy opposing economic reforms of the Central government ever since the UPA government has come into power, while in their own playground of West Bengal, reforms are going at full steam turning the state into an economic powerhouse.

What’s sauce for the goose is obviously not sauce for the gander or is there a “Phoren Hand” stirring the pot?

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Posted by meerkat on August 17th 2007 in Animation, India, Television
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This is a video from Doordarshan, Indian TV station, made many years ago. This video is called “Ek anek..” in Hindi. It starts with a child trying to pluck mangoes from a tree but fails to do so. He is dejected and turns to his sister when the topic of what is one, many and unity begin through stories set with simple music. We learn it all. This is a well made simple 2-D animation in the 70s. Another favorite 2-D retro animation of mine set in simple times is “Triplets of Belleville“.

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Posted by anupcs on July 27th 2007 in Business, Comics, Humor, India
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Mike Peters, author of the daily cartoon “Mother Goose and Grimm” had this as his daily cartoon yesterday:

Even Gandhi is not spared these days.

[via SAJAforum]

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