Kabhi kabhi “fair” mein: Fairness products hit a new low

Looks like you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Pond’s White Beauty (yes, that is the real name of a product) is the latest “fairness” cream to hit the Indian market. Apparently, it features lycopene that lets you become “pale white or pinkish white, you choose“. [...]

Macaca Coffee

We like macacas and we like coffee. So when we stumbled on this story, we could not resist running it. [PRWeb]
Trick question: Which is the one of the most (if not the most) expensive coffee blends in the world that India exports?
Chances are you have never heard of R. Miguel Coffee. Founded in 2007, coffee [...]

An ode to Aya Ram, Gaya Ram

With the Congress party-led UPA coalition in India staring down the barrel of a crisis, with the no-confidence vote looming large, elected members of smaller parties are coming into more focus. [Reuters]
“So this is democracy??”, Ghandi (sic) seems to be sayingimg: via Reuters
With a vote of confidence (or one of no-confidence) looming large on the [...]

Grand wedding entrance - desi ishtyle

We @ Über Desi are vary vary family-like - loving, nosy and overbearing. So much that we’re already planning the baraats of our yet-to-be-married resident bloggers [1,2] even without marriage dates or in some cases, without potential brides. So when we heard about rich grooms in India arriving at the wedding venues in choppers, we [...]

Worth sh!t

“This is worth sh!t” or conversely “not worth a sh!t” takes on a whole new meaning in the Indian village of Musiri in Tamil Nadu. [CNN]
You can now buy a deluxe lota with your sh!timg: via Wiki
Anyone who lives in India or has visited knows that often, hygiene is not among the top priorities particularly [...]

He survived the eye of the tiger

No, this has nothing to do with Rocky getting creamed by Clubber Lang, it’s the amazing true life story of a fisherman in West Bengal getting attacked by a man-eating tiger and living to tell about it. [BBC]

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Knocked Up: Desi septuagenarian edition

Sri. Charan Singh Panwar and Smt. Omkari Panwar are proud parents of newborn twins. [Fox News]
Boldly going where no septuagenarians have ever gone beforeimg: via Fox News
Here’s the twist, Omkari Panwar is 70, and her husband, Charan Singh Panwar is …… 77! And the twins were produced through IVF treatments! Science is wonderful, even when [...]

Ramu checks in

The Telegraph probably intended to run this as an orientalist article but its too damn cute not to post on here. [Telegraph]
The Macaca familyimg: via Telegraph
The story is that of a baby langur, Ramu, adopted by a family in Gujarat.
Ramu’s mother was killed by a bunch of stray dogs. He was rescued and brought home [...]

WWII Nazi captured in India ?(UPDATE 2 )

In news that seems more like a film plot gone awry, news spread in India via email of an 88-year-old man alleged to be a former high-level Nazi officer being arrested by German and Indian authorities. Johann Bach alleged to be a manager of a concentration camp during WWII , fled Germany after the [...]

Did you know Laloo could speak in English?

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Sleeping pilots overshoot Mumbai

An Air-India (big surprise there) flight from Jaipur to Mumbai overshot the Mumbai when pilots onboard decided to grab a few winks. The plane was halfway between Goa and Mumbai when the pilots woke up, turned the plane around and landed safely in Mumbai. All in a day’s work.
Excuses notwithstanding, who wants to bet these [...]

I see dead babies

Hold the presses! We @ Über Desi have uncovered the plot for M. Night Shyamalan’s next movie “The Baby”,
The movie entirely financed by UTV is set in the Mumbai suburb of Sion. The story opens in a delivery room - frantic action, screams, shrieks, all followed by silence. More frantic action, the doctors try to [...]

Delhi flights delayed by monitor lizards, jackals and kites

Weird as it sounds, heavy monsoon forced these animals from the surrounding areas onto runways at the Delhi airports. [Yahoo!]
A family of monitor lizards were first noticed by a pilot on the secondary runway on Monday morning, forcing authorities to delay flight operations for about an hour.
More delays were caused when jackals and kites were [...]

Hanuman named business school chief

File this under the “Dog bites man” and “It happens only in India” category.
Sardar Bhagat Singh College of Technology and Management in Lucknow was so frustrated by it’s search for a chairman, instead of settling for a lesser candidate they went higher. [Fox] (tip Jennie via email)
LUCKNOW, India — He’s a revered Hindu [...]

World’s worst job applicant

Just in time for Father’s day , this “heartwarming” story from India.
An Indian man, frustrated at failing to find employment, ordered the murder of his father to get his government job a day before the victim was to retire, police said on Tuesday. (link)
The Government in India has a policy of allowing qualified family [...]

Shivaji goes surfing

Speaking of making extravagant promises to get elected, the Congress party promised the people of Maharashtra a 300-foot high statue of the Maratha king, Shivaji. (no relation to Tamil superstar, Rajnikant) [Rediff] [via Browsekid]
Shivaji surfs the wavesimg: photoshop courtesy Über Desi
Apparently, the Congress party decided this was one promise they could afford to keep, and [...]

Anatomy of a hooch tragedy

Hooch a.k.a desi a.k.a tharra a.k.a moonshine (illegal liquor) has claimed over 150 lives in South India wtih several others hanging in balance. [BBC]
Here is what happened:
1. Local elections held.
2. Historically, politicians bribe illiterate electorate with, among other things, liquor, to vote for them.
3. Local/state authorities, in their infinite wisdom since they know what is [...]

Money is mai-baap: 11 year old boy chooses rich father in custody battle

At least the baap(father) part is true in this case. [BBC News]
A 11 year old Indian boy chose his affluent father over his mother in a custody battle. The court, convinced of the boy’s maturity ruled in favor of the father. By law in India, the mother gets custody of children under 5 and after [...]

Playing cricket can be hazardous to your health..

…. if you are a drug dealer. We’ve heard of pick up hoops (basketball). Now we have pick up cricket. A major Sri Lankan drug lord was literally picked up by cops in the middle of a cricket game. [link] (tip Karthik via email)
One of Sri Lanka’s biggest drug lords has been finally arrested in [...]

Artistic Freedom: 1, Religious Fundamentalists: 0

The Delhi High court rejected all cases of obscenity registered against MF Husain by Hindu fundamentalists. [BBC] (tip Runa via email)
A court in the India has dropped legal proceedings in three cases against one of the country’s best-known and controversial artists.
MF Husain has been accused of obscenity in at least seven cases filed against him [...]

Wedding gifts and WCs

I appreciate many things about life in the USA. Amongst these are great sanitation and wedding registries. I am one of those crackpots who cannot use the “facilities” unless they are up to par.(Remember George Costanza’s trip to India on Seinfeld? He simply didn’t go).
Wishing the couple a happy married life and plenty [...]

Infants thrown off roof in bizzare Karnataka ritual

In a bizzare and extremely abusive and superstitious ritual, people in north Karnataka throw their infants off the rooftop of the Maruti temple on special days to “make then stronger”. [NDTV] (tip Sai via email)
“Honey, I threw the kids off the rooftop!”img: via NDTV
Of course, the fall of these infants is padded by what appears [...]

Mumbai police to police cheerleaders

Mumbai’s mamus (cops) are now out to defend us from evil cheerleaders. [BBC link]
Deliver us from this evil, oh almighty Mumbai Mamusimg: via BBC
Says Ram Rao Vagh, the police commissioner for New Mumbai:
….. organisers could be fined for violating the norms of the entertainment licence they had secured for allowing performances in the stadium.
Senior officers [...]

Mangoes are very dear

We desis are serious about our mangoes. And to prove that statement here is a news item fresh from my hometown Pune.
Now I admit I am a mango snob - no Mexican impostors for me -it has to be Ratnagiri apoos or nothing .True that after one bad experience with south-of-border [...]

Indian SC anulls divorce after 9 years

The Indian Supreme Court has ordered a couple to resume marital ties, after 17 years of estrangement [link]. Irrespective of who was at fault, I fail to see how a court, even the Supreme Court, can force people to stay married, especially after such a lengthy separation. Is it even in the best interests of [...]