Automobiles:Top 5 of all time

Looks like you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!In reverse order, and yes, there is a shade of desi’ness to this: [link]
5. Ford Model T
“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black” - Henry Ford […]

Indian farmers texting their way to prosperity

Or SMSing, as they call it in India. BBC News has this neat story on how Indian farmers are using a text messaging service from Reuters to better their lives, and their crops.
The farmers use text messages to get the daily weather reports to decide optimal plant nutrition, ….
It’s a new service called Reuters Market […]

YouTube launches in India

YouTube, has launched an Indianized version of its website, http://www.youtube.co.in/, that among other things features an Indianized homepage with desi videos and Indianized search features. [Hindu] (tip Videsh via email)
Needless to say, there will be an exponential spike in number of “sexy” videos featuring Hindi, Tamil and Telugu heroines uploaded to this website.
Get ready for […]

Partying with the poor

Millionaire Taj Chahal (younger brother of Gurbaksh Chahal who we covered here) celebrated his 29th birthday with a twist.He threw a catered dinner for 300 strangers at Martha’s Kitchen, a San Jose charity that serves meals to the homeless and working poor.(link)
Last year the Chahal brothers sold their latest start-up, BlueLithium, an advertising technology […]

Condoleeza: Y’all eat too much Rice

Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has sparked controversy by blaming the current worldwide food crisis on the “improved appetites of Indians and Chinese” and “promising to have a look at it”. [1]
Meanwhile, Indian politicians and the Managing Director of Asian Development Bank, Rajat Nag, have blamed the food crisis on the increase in production of […]

Mukesh Ambani’s $2 billion home world’s most expensive

Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person and 5th richest man in the world can soon boast of the world’s most expensive home, according to Forbes. [Forbes] (tip Ahmed via email)
Mukesh Ambani’s loo: Toilet for some, palace for everyone elseimg: via Forbes
Some quick cliffnotes for our time starved readers:
- Name: Antilla
- 27 storey skyscraper in Mumbai
- designed […]

Indian company acquires movie theaters across US

Adlabs Films has partnered with Asian-American-focused media group ImaginAsian Entertainment to acquire around 240 screens in theaters in 28 cities. Why is this significant? As Lisa Tsering of India West explains “The chain may change the way Indian films are booked, released and promoted to NRIs, now that distributors such as Eros and Yash Raj […]

Rice shortage hits shortage, no need to panic, yet

After curry leaves on the West Coast, it’s the next big shortage to hit desi kitchens in the US is that of chaaval (rice). [1]
Rice shortages hit US desi communityimg: via CNN
Limits placed on sales of several kinds of rice by Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Sam’s Club warehouse division are meant to […]

White House and Capitol foreclose

The mortgage crisis seems to have reached disastrous proportions with the federal government having to foreclose on their buildings including some well known landmarks. Via FU Times
The mortgage crisis facing America is literally sweeping the proverbial rug from underneath the government’s feet. The federal government had to foreclose on a number of federal buildings including […]

Breaking News - Jaguar/Land Rover change hands

And so it finally goes down… sort of.
Autoblog is reporting (via Autonews.com) that Ford and Tata have put in the finally signed off on a 2.65 billion deal. Finally, Tata gets its hands on Jaguar a once proud brand that has since fallen into bad hands and a inept management, and Land Rover, a iconic […]

Four desis in top 20 billionaires

KP Singh of the Delhi based real estate company DLF joins Mittal and the two Ambanis. Bill Gates falls from top spot and is overtaken by Warren Buffet and Carlos Slim. [link]

A pair of Über fugly Ferrari 612 Scagliettis to lap India.

In the past couple of years Ferrari has sent their 612 Scaglietti across the world. First it was China, then the Americas and finally the 60th anniversary around-the-world relay last year. The latest country on the Prancing Horses map is India and god did we get the ugliest pair of Scagliettis.

The 12-stage event starts […]

Using alcohol to grow crops - Desi Ishtyle

Image from Asela.
Bizzare news often tends to originate from places other than the west, pretty often from India. Marrying animals, female infanticide and similar horrible stories leave us scratching our heads. But some of the bizzare news is just plain funny. A few years ago, Desi farmers were out using Coca-Cola for pesticide, now its […]

Once the Jeep goes desi…

Ok, that title does not make any sense. But the news is nevertheless huge.
After Tata, now it’s Mahindra. Gawker Media’s automobile blog - Autoblog is now reporting that Mahindra and Mahindra may soon own the Jeep brand.
In order to reach the markets that matter, M&M may be looking to forge an alliance with Chrysler […]

Now selling: Indian bangles at Target

In my better half’s eternal quest for a lime green bedskirt to match our comforter, she ended up dragging my lazy kundi to the local Super Target store over this past weekend.
Of course, in my household no trip to a department store is ever complete without an obligatory visit to the jewelery and electronics […]

Cheap Cars and Dear Gas - A Precognitive Prevarication

Last week, I speculated that 2008 could turn out to be India’s solely because of the trendsetting auto industry. It can be argued that these trends are by no means cutting edge technological. Rather, this upswing in newsworthy snippets has solely been caused by some smart economics and business decisions. And curiously one company, Tata […]

Is ‘08 the Year of the Tatas?

The last couple of months have seen a bunch of India related news snippets in the automotive media. The three major auto blogs that i subscribe to, Autoblog, Jalopnik and The Truth about Cars have all devoted multiple posts to India related subjects recently. While the Nano and the Jaguar/Land Rover sale have gotten the […]

Those Nigerians man

After scamming noobs on the internet asking for their bank account information, the Nigerian ‘businessmen’ got smarter. Soon they were creating fake websites and phishing information from unsuspecting customers, asking E-Bay sellers to part with their goods and now they are after Tata Nanos.
Jalopnik, one of the regular feeds I have subscribed to […]

Tata keeps its promise, delivers a $2500 car

The online media outlets, blogs and every news source is buzzing with Nano, the $2500 peoples car. The news is mostly praise peppered with a little worry about the trouble the mass sales could bring.
We over at UD love the Nano, for the following reasons
-The price. When most cars in developing countries cost almost […]

Bajaj pips Tata.

Bajaj, the manufacturer of the famous tuc-tuc has one-upped Tata, by releasing its ultra-low-cost car to compete with Tata. Whats more, they released the prototype car, a day ahead of the much hyped and anticipated release by Tata.
The prototype, dubbed ‘Hamara’ (ours in English) is a joint project by Renault-Nissan and Bajaj.
More details […]

Its official, Ford Waves Tata to Jag and LR

Both Ford and Tata announced that they have moved into advanced negotiations on the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover. If that does not tickle your fancy, then try this. Vijay Mallya has split with Toyota F1, Kingfisher will no longer be one of the sponsors of the team, this should give the brand and […]

Italians live vicariously through Indians

The Tata - Jag deal has and will have a lot of benefits, most of which do not meet the common eye. The first in the list seems to be the Italian connection.

Autoblog helps us decipher the puzzle.
Fiat besides owning the Scuderia owns this amazing company we have come to know as Alfa Romeo. […]

$2500 Tata car, coming to the Delhi Auto Show.

We reported earlier that Suzuki was planning on unveilling its A Star concept car at the Delhi Auto Show.
Now TATA have decided to one up the Japanese company by deciding to show off their $2500 car.
Jokes aside, Jalopnik says the car would feature four doors and have a rear mounted engine, with a […]

Suzuki to unveil concept car at the New Delhi Motor Show

This could be the new Alto Image from Autoblog

Autoblog reports that Suzuki will be unveiling it’s A Star concept car in India. Although most concept car’s never see the light of day, Japanese companies design their cars based on utility and market forcasting, unlike most other big car makers who want to show off […]

Jaguar dealers concerned over possible Indian Ownership

The Jaguar XKR, will this capture the American car buyers? Image from Anantha

Over the weekend, we got a tip from our reader Annu, about U.S. Jaguar dealers expressing discomfort over an Indian Owner. Although my original post was geared towards a different set of ideas, I have taken it upon myself to answer this question.
The […]