In today’s news to be filed under *facepalm*:

Tara Fitzgerald, a woman in Sacramento, California had a harrowing experience with a Dell service representative in India. She called up to get help with ( and I am not making this up):
Nude photos of herself that she could not find on her computer. She had taken the pictures for her boyfriend. The Dell service rep from amchi Mumbai , Riyaz Shaikh evidently downloaded the photos that soon made their way to the internets and a site called “bitchtara”. Shaikh then allegedly over the course of several conversations with Tara , convinced her somehow to send him a brand new Dell laptop so that he could work on “taking down” the site from home. Ms.Fitzgerald then freely and of her own volition, actually shipped him a brand new Dell laptop ( nice to see that he at least had brand loyalty!). ( sfgate.com)

In a further twist tio the tale , Shaikh- who evidently is some sort of cyber -lothario- allegedly used Ms,.Fitzgerald’s Dell credit card to send $ 800 worth of computer equipment to another American lady with whom he allegedly “fell in love”.
See video here
There are so many lessons to be learnt here :

(1) Do NOT under any circumstances ship anything of value half way across the world to a stranger promising you good things. Its a scam. Period.
(2) Do NOT take nude photos of yourself. I cannot think of anything good that can come of having X-rated photos of yourself unless you are a Playboy model or Adult film star or Exhibit A in some convoluted criminal trial.
(3) If you need embarassing or sensitive data to be retrieved from your computer, you are probably better off finding a local firm that specializes in handling such issues.*Ducking to avoid any brickbats from proponents of outsourcing*
(4) Buy Apple computers

I mean WTF? Seriously ?

UPDATE 1:
Dell has responded predicatably by making sure that Riyaz is nto unleashed on any other customers ( link).( Tip: Santosh via email)
The Company huffily says

” “We contacted the vendor about the allegation and can confirm that the representative no longer handles Dell calls. We’ve been in contact with Ms. Fitzgerald regarding this issue and continue to investigate her claims to best assist in a resolution.”

My friends,I further need to regretfully report that there is something black in the lentils- as we would say back in the des.

Ms. Fitzgerald is not exactly washed in milk – as we would also say back in the des.
She admits to a * gasp* relationship with Mr.Riyaz that seems to have crossed the bounds of normal customer – customer service rep relationship

Following the initial technical call, conversations between Fitzgerald and Shaikh quickly turned personal. Fitzgerald admitted being flattered by the attention from the Indian support tech, whose MySpace page identifies him as being 24 years old. “He’s very charming and he knew exactly what to say. It warmed my heart,” she said.

Fitzgerald shared a number of personal e-mails Shaikh sent her from his Hotmail account shortly after their first conversation, including the following message dated Jan. 11, 2009:

“There are no words to express how I feel about you. I constantly search for the words, and they all seem less than I truly feel. You are my life, my heart, and my soul. You are my best friend. You are my one true love. I still remember the day we first met. I knew that you were the one I was meant to be with forever.”

(link)

I will with regret refrain from commenting on my take on the whole story.

Instead I will leave you to peruse this interesting thread on reddit, where some amateur sleuths find some interesting stuff from our herpoine’s life splattered across cyberspace.

O Tempora! O Mores!

All is well.....

Raj Kumar Hirani is the bearer of a lost art, the art of story telling. The problem is sometimes, he overlaps his piece of art with another of his own, that is still fresh in your memory.

And I’ll try to keep the review clean of any spoilers.

3 idiots is a movie ‘loosely’ based on one of India’s ‘best-selling’ novels, “Five point Someone, what not to do at IIT“, by Chetan Bhagat. A book, that critics love to hate and take a jab at it’s ‘popularity’, while a particular section of the readers who may not be into serious literature can skim through it with the ease of reading a tabloid magazine. Having read the book a few years back, and having lived with not really disliking it for some reasons and not liking it too well either, let me say this – reading or not reading the book may not really make a difference with respect to your movie experience.

Except a minor plot or two (actually, make that three) that do form an integral part of the story, the feel good, subtly emotional, humorous and pleasant movie is fun to watch. It may however, remind you (a lot) of the Munnabhai series. To begin with, the character artists are mostly in repetitive roles as the Munnabhai series, facing similar circumstances, and you feel a sense of familiarity with introduction of new roommates in a hostel, the unique hazing (or ragging) rituals, the challenges in classroom between a student and a professor, dramatized hospital recovery scenes, and some well known anecdotes that you may have received in forwarded e-mails ( a few thousand times) in the past several years that have been incorporated in the movie… those are the familiar parts. ‘Jaadu ki jhappi’ turns into ‘All is well’, but has a humorous application in the most chaotic circumstances. The group of friends (Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi) were also a group of friends in ‘Rang De Basanti’ a group that we may have already begin to love before we know what their characters are like.

The humor in a few scenes combined with Aamir Khan’s ever lovable, cheeky delivery, and keeping the heroine to one character and NOT compulsorily introducing two more (unnecessary) female characters, for the other two in the group (Madhavan, Sharman) keeps the plot manageable and engaging.

The beauty of it is while regional cinema (especially Telugu cinema) takes you to Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand for the song and dance sequences that have no relation to the plot, Raj Kumar Hirani takes you to Ladakh and Himachal (as seen in the movie as well as the end credits), albeit for a few minutes and sticking to the plot line and actually having a scene or two at these locations.

The speech by ‘Chatur Ramalingam’ who does not understand Hindi as well as he would like to, is by far one of the most hilarious scenes in a Hindi movie that I’ve seen in years.

This movie is probably a box office winner, going by Aamir Khan’s fan following, but is definitely worth watching for its humor quotient alone. Hope this gives you a reason to get out of home during this holiday season, and stop looking at movie reviews .

Cheers.

Psst – movie credits, here.

An Indian origin couple has been sentenced in Australia on manslaughter charges in connection with the death of their baby girl.

Thomas Sam, 42, a college lecturer in homoeopathy and his wife Manju, 37, of Sydney were found guilty of the most serious case of manslaughter by criminal negligence leading to the death of their nine-month-old daughter Gloria in May 2002.(link)

The father a practicing homeopath chose to treat his daughter with homeopathic medicines for a simple case of eczema, that deteriorated into a serious skin disorder that led to the child’s death.

Now as someone who has completely lost faith in allopathic medicine and regularly turn to alternative therapies for minor ailments , I still believe that when it comes to medical decisions for children, its best to follow conventional wisdom and listen to your doctor. Homeopathy has always been controversial – modern medicinal practitioners consider it so much mumbo-jumbo . Yet, I know hundreds of people especially desi who swear by it.

What do you think?

1. Tell our readers about yourself? (origins+current interests+whatever you want us to know)

Hi everyone! My name is Adam Mamawala, and I’m from Hillsborough, New Jersey. My dad is Indian and moved to the states when he was 20, where he met my mom and got married. I guess you could say Im an ABCHD (not high definition, an American Born Confused Half-Desi).

I recently graduated from The College of New Jersey, where I mastered in Communication Studies with a minor in Italian. I had an incredible four years there, and I am eternally grateful to those who made my time there so memorable.

Shortly after beginning my freshman year of college, I began doing stand-up comedy, and once I started I couldnt stop. Having performed stand-up comedy for the past four years, I have had the chance to appear at some of the top venues in the tri-state area. I was also named the winner of the 2007 New Jersey Comedy Festival, edging out nearly thirty other finalists. I have performed in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and New York at Carolines and Comix comedy clubs (for a total of nearly 20 performances). Ive been fortunate to have appeared alongside the likes of Darrell Hammond, Jim David, and Judah Friedlander at New Talent Showcases in New York City. My Youtube comedy channel (www.youtube.com/mamawalacomedy) was the 5th most subscribed to channel for the first week that I created the account, with my stand-up videos receiving hundreds of 5-star ratings.

Now that Ive gotten to this point, I have decided to pursue stand-up professionally. I am currently in the process of getting head shots done and sending out stuff to agents. I also have a CD coming out this summer.

2. Have you ever experienced the ABCD v/s FOB culture so prevalent among immigrant Indians and US born people of Indian origin? If so, was the experienced generally good or bad? Does any incident stand out?

Truthfully, because of the fact that my name is not decidedly ethnic and the fact that I look sort of ethnically ambiguous, I have not really had this experience too much. My sisters name is Shaheen, so people always assume that she is not white, whereas people either think Im a tan white kid or that Im Italian, Hawaiian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc. No one ever guesses that my dad is Indian. Within the past decade, my aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma, and grandpa have moved to the US from India, so I think that has really helped me have a better understanding of the culture.

3. How and when did standup comedy happen?

My freshman year of college, I had gone to a New Jersey Nets basketball game with a few friends of mine. The whole game, I kept making comments about funny stuff that always goes on at professional sporting events, and one of my friends recommended that I create a routine out of it and try it out at an open mic night. I did just that, and several weeks later I performed at an open mic night at The Stress Factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The performance went really well, and that gave me the confidence to pursue it more seriously. Since then, based on the success Ive had, theres been no reason to stop, and now I want to pursue it professionally.

4. Have you ever visited India? If yes, what do you like and dislike about your visit?

I have only visited India once, and I was very young. I went in the spring of 1995, so I was only seven years old. We were there for a month, visiting my dads entire family. Even as a kid, I remember it being a very jarring experience being thrown into such a different world. We landed in Mumbai and drove four hours to my dads home city of Pune, and everywhere we looked, there was poverty. I cant even imagine how much India has changed in the 15 years since I visited, and I would love to go back. However, if and when I do return, I would like to see India as a tourist, not as someone purely there to visit family. Clichéd as it may be, it is one of my dreams to see the Taj Mahal.

5. First crush?

The first crush I can remember was an adorable little Asian girl in my 2nd grade class named Heather. As you can imagine, not too much amounted from that, but thats the first one I can remember.

6. Passions in life?

My main passions in life are comedy, sports, and music, in that order. Ive already explained what comedy means to me, but sports are probably an equally important aspect of my life. I grew up playing basketball and tennis, both of which I was pretty good but not fantastic at, and I continue playing tennis even now. I also coach tennis in the summer as a job, and its a great time. I grew up in Illinois when I was young, but I moved to New Jersey in 4th grade when my dad was transferred. However, I remained an avid Chicago sports fan, and I am an absolutely diehard Cubs, Bulls, and Bears fan. (Truthfully I dont follow hockey but I was happy to see the Blackhawks play so well this postseason.)

I also love singing, and I was in chorus and did 4 musicals in high school. In college, I was in an a cappella group called the Trentones at my school, and I consider it one of the best choices I made in college.

7. Future aspirations?

As of right now, I really want to work in entertainment. I realize how hard that is, but I feel that I have the talent and the drive to get somewhere with comedy. I have gotten to the point where I believe that I owe it to myself to see what can happen with comedy, because I never want to let myself have any regrets later in my life.

8. Biggest compliment yet?

After my youtube page got a lot of hits, the feedback was really positive, and a lot of people posted comments and sent me messages saying things like I cant wait til you get famous and I cant wait to see you on Comedy Central. Comments like that really make me feel good.

Also, sometimes Ill meet people who I either dont know or who I havent talked to in years who tell me how much they enjoy my videos, and I once had a girl tell me, Whenever Im having a crappy day, I put on one of your videos and I cant help but smile. Probably the nicest compliment Ive ever received.

9. Favorite comedians?

My favorite comedians are Mitch Hedberg, Dave Chappelle, and Russell Peters. Unfortunately Mitch Hedberg has passed away, Chappelle doesnt perform a lot anymore, and Ive heard a lot of negative things about Russell Peters. Basically, the rumors are that he is really arrogant and kind of a jerk, but I hope thats not the case because hes extremely talented and someone I look up to.

10. Favorite movies?

I am an absolute movie buff here’s the short list.

Jurassic Park, A Beautiful Mind, Wedding Crashers, Ray, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, Anchorman, Rain Man, Crash, Memento, Dodgeball, The Usual Suspects, Forrest Gump, Mystic River, Finding Neverland, 40 Year Old Virgin, School of Rock, Borat, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Knocked Up, The Bourne Ultimatum, Superbad, Babel, Pans Labyrinth, No Country for Old Men, The Namesake, The Godfather, Juno, Dan in Real Life, The Dark Knight, The Shawshank Redemption, Pineapple Express, Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino, Seven Pounds, Milk

11. Favorite blogs?

I dont really look at a lot of blogs, but my favorite is called www.bleedcubbieblue.com, which is a Chicago Cubs fansite.

12. Favorite celebrities

Not sure I have any favorite celebrities, but I have a lot of respect for the kind of celebrities who stay down to earth and grounded despite their fame. If I ever got to the point where I was in the public eye, I would like to think that I would stay humble and gracious.

13. Family – how do they like your stand-up routines? Especially the raunchy ones?

My family has been extremely supportive of my stand-up to this point. They really like my material for the most part, and even the stuff thats a little more on the raunchy side they tend to be cool with. In fact, in my video The Art of Jerking Off, which I would imagine is pretty self-explanatory, my parents were actually at the show. They tend to take it for what it is, and I cant thank my parents and my sister enough for their support. My sister lives in New York City, and has been at almost every one of my shows, and it really means a lot to me.

–

Pictures courtesy: Adam Mamawala

You can find Adam online here  -

www.youtube.com/mamawalacomedy
www.myspace.com/mamawalacomedy
www.twitter.com/mamawalacomedy
http://mamawalacomedy.blogspot.com

Folks, this is it. Last ever episode of ER tonight.

Just wanted to share this little nugget of info with you :
Neela Rasgotra ( played by Parminder Nagra) has had liaisons on the job a total of 192 times . She is in second place behind Carter (Noah Wylie) who has done the deed a grand total of 255 times in the hospital including several episodes in a linen closet. Chee , chee! Desi girls nowadays I tell you !