:::The Desi Flavor:::

Indian police to wear fragrance to fight crime

Indian police smell pretty. Police in an Indian province are airing a new strategy for crime fighting and community relations: "Police in India’s Western state of Gujarat are to wear new uniforms impregnated with the fragrance of flowers and citrus to help improve their image." via MeFi

How many bidi's are smoked?

According to this site

> More than 700 Trillion BEEDIES or BIRI are smoked annually

>  Indians smoke more than one trillion bidis every year

>  An experienced worker can roll 2,000 a day.

Via MetaFilter

Related: : Wikipedia Entry on Bidis : Are bidis are more dangerous than cigarettes? : Bidis Fact sheet from CDC

My Memories of India

Roop Rai

Whenever I reflect upon my life in India, I'm rather intrigued that I don't even have the vaguest memory of potholes and pollution that my parents and their friends so often talk about over dinner or casual get-togethers. Maybe it is because I subconsciously deleted my not so pleasant memories of the distant past or maybe it is because I never bothered to look at the downsides when I was in India. Whatever the case might be, the result is the same; India is still a land of love and mystery to me.

I was blessed to have a good life while I was there. My parents owned a decent business; therefore, we had a decent house with maids, car with a chauffer, etc. From a materialistic point of view, life was very comfortable but it's not the comfort of the materialistic assets that I miss .... I miss being able to go to my neighbor's house in mid-afternoon and grab a drink from their fridge, turn on their TV, watch without a care, and come back home when the drink is done ... I miss being able to get up on the roof and fly kites with the neighborhood kids ... I miss running down the streets trying to catch the kites that were shot down by "enemies" heh ... I miss going to the candy store at the corner of our house street and bargain with "uncle" for one candy promising him that I'd make sure my mom gets her groceries from his store ... I miss calling everyone including strangers "uncle" or "aunty" ... I miss that feeling of familiarity ... I miss that feeling of neighborhood as one unit ... I miss going over to an old couple's house in the neighborhood and listen to their childhood stories ... I miss ringing other people's doorbells and running without the fear of being punished ... I miss washing wheat from our farm at home and taking it to the mill to be grounded to flour ... I miss my mom doing laundry -on the roof- the traditional way while I sat there playing with soap bubbles ... I miss going to my mom's paternal village every summer ... I miss sitting under a big neem tree with friends on a hot summer day drinking lassi ... I miss mosquito bites; they assisted me in faking sickness quite a few times hehe ... I miss the power cuts that got me out of studying so many times haha ... I miss our crappy little TV that played nothing but one channel - DoorDarshan ... If it wasn't for that, I would've missed all the fun I had outside ... I miss my grandmother ........

Life wasn't all peachy as I might have implied "unintentionally". Of course, it had its ups and downs. If your entire neighborhood is like your family, that must mean that the entire neighborhood watches out for you. That requires you to live by the rules of the neighborhood or society in general. Whatever step you take may in some way affect the honor of the entire neighborhood, hence, everyone takes it upon themselves to take care of each other. Pretty simple, isnt it? Therefore, statements like "What will society say?" .. "What will people say?" .. frequented my household almost as much as they did everyone else's around. Having been raised with a westernized mindset, it sure was a shocker for me but I learnt to adapt to it ... the hard way (after getting yelled at a FEW times haha). Despite the societal restrictions, especially on girls (did i hear someone say double standards), I had a blast! I made some wonderful life lasting friends ... I had the most enriching experiences of my life ... I got the chance of knowing the poorest of the poor ... got the chance of knowing the richest of the rich ... India had such a profound effect on my life that the words like 'potholes' or 'pollution' hold no meaning for me. India filled me with life, love, friends, know-how to have a realistic approach to life and much more ..... time runs out ...... list goes on.

I am what I am because I was once in India. :)

India for sale part 2

Nishant Sadana

Want a kidney? Or maybe some heart valves...no problem ... all u need is oodles of cash and the right contacts. A few months back it was one of the professors at NIMHANS offering next day delivery of cadaveric heart valves to anywhere in the west. Needless to say the cadavers family would not even know about this and so there goes informed consent out of the window...and maybe that professers kids can lead a life of a degeneracy that comes only with easy money.

Today another item hit the news stands...the arrest of one of the leading urologists in Bombay. I dont remember the name but it was someone in Bombay Hospital. Was arrested after about a month of the police tapping his fone calls and keeping tabs on him on general after a disgruntled donor complained to the police. The modus operandi ... swindle a poor guy into agreeing to sell his kidney for 10,000 bucks. Sell it to some rich person for 2 lacs over and above the hospital fees.

The thing that really hurts is that these people are not petty policemen standing on the road who demand Rs 50 for chai paani ... this maybe can be tolerated as they are paid a pittance neways. But a DOCTOR!!! ...one of the pillars of the society...who can earn enuf anyways...caught doing things like this...

I demand the frigging death sentence...and then some more...something like Yudhishtirs death sentence to a brahmin because he lied and pardoning the shudhra for murder...the logic being that the shudhra is supposed to be ignorant...and can hence be pardoned the first time...but the brahmin has committed a grave misdeed because he is someone who is supposed to set an example for the masses and actually teach them...if the very lawmakers become lawbreakers....then they are the biggest threat to society and should be removed.

Imagine policemen stealing, politicians plundering, judges raping, doctors killing and an image of present day india comes to your mind. Any one who reads the newspapers regularly can, I am sure recall examples of each of the examples mentioned above...sheetal joshis rape, the recent rape of a woman in a hotel in mumbai by a judge,the pogrom in gujarat then this case of the doctor dealing in human organs...

I have just one question to pose...

Where are we going...the newspapers speak every day about india becoming a super power ... in economic as well as military terms...but the thing is ...as long as the normal citizens of India do not have a sense of security ... are not certain that their daughters can walk on the streets safely in night....can we call ourselves the inheritors of a civiliasation a millenia old.

A nation for sale???

Nishant Sadana

New year resolution.

Take five of my friends. Take my girlfriend. Rent a hotel room. Gangrape the girl I have been professing love for.

Nest morning

The girl lodges a police complaint. Pay off the police with money. Police doesnont take much interest in the case. Keep on badgering the girl with threatening SMS messages.

The next week

The girl commits suicide. Hangs herself from her dupatta and leaves a letter asking that the rapists be punished. Especially Sajal cuz she loved him.

Three days after this
Pay off the police inspector again. The police inspector brands the girl as a prostitute who didnt get paid for sex.

You will be thinking...this guy has gone mad. How can this be possible. But my dear ladies and gentlemen. This is possible. This is possible in Gods own land. The place where Lord Krishna ruled. The place where Mahatma Gandhi was born.