India turns 62 today, old enough to draw social security benefits.

Kids like me who grew up in India in the 80s and 90s read about Nehru’s historic “Tryst with destiny” speech made to the Indian Constituent Assembly. Fast forward a few decades, students wanting to capture the essence of this speech, may do so thanks to the U-tubes. (Video below)

Here’s another historic clip (entirely in Hindi) of the last British soldiers to leave Indian soil. As symbolic as the gesture was, it was indeed a momentous occasion after nearly two …

A brawl in a Sikh Temple in Vienna ,Austria took an ugly turn. Armed men fought one another in the temple premises, ending up with at elast 11 people getting injured.
Witnesses said the fighting erupted between worshippers in a dispute over the sermon.Police said at least six men, one wielding a gun and the others knives, attacked the preacher. Other worshippers rushed to his aid, resulting in the melee
(link)
The brawl reportedly erupted when the attackers objected to the sermon, claiming the preacher insulted the holy book. The …

Karhik (via email) points us to this spoof of a Microsoft ad by Sarcastic Gamer (via Engadget). The spoof features a desi kid and subtitles in Hindi. To be noted: the girl shows the drawing of a dog while proclaiming “mere paas billi hai” (I have a cat). Is this was an oversight on part of the spoofers or a deliberate dig at the bugs and easter eggs in MS software?

A classic MTV India Ad – enjoy !

NB: Cyrus Broacha for the uninitiated is an MTV India VJ !

Intel has an awesome new ad featuring Ajay Bhatt, The Co-Inventor of USB. For your viewing pleasure…

Finally an ad that breaks the stereotype, well kinda… What do you guys think?

I’m not much into writing tributes for dead Bollywood personalities but this maker of über stylish movies way ahead of their time in terms of trends, certainly deserves a mention. With stylishly made potboilers like Dharmatma, Qurbani and Jaanbaaz, often imitated never duplicated comes to mind. FK was famous for his guy movies – stylish, fast paced, foot tapping music, phoren locales, dazzling music videos, stunning women and packed with action. The best part? He was unapologetic about any of it. His movie making style would spawn hundreds of copycats …

Yup – we sold out. After years of sneering at the Peoples,OK Magazines and TMZs of the world – we decided that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
So : Here’s to our latest desi Brangelina – call ‘em Fridev,Patinto whatever. In fact , send us your best suggestions and we will use the moniker that we like the best and give you credit.
Freida Pinto and Dev Patel are a confirmed item.
Patel’s mother Anita has confirmed to a British newspaper that the pair are very much a couple.
“First it was …

When the world collectively applauded for the Slumdog children on stage at the Oscars this March, I applauded too. But in the back of my mind there remained a niggling, uneasy feeling . Everyone thought that Danny Boyle and the producers had pulled of a masterful PR coup by flying in all the child actors for the Oscars in L.A.. I could not help but think of G.B.Shaw’s “Pygmalion” . Some of the main child stars were actually from the slums in Bombay and the trip to L.A. was their …

This one seems like right out of an episode of Friends. [Cinema Blend] (tip Karthik via email)
Chandler: “I see brown people”img: via Cinema Blend
Most desis (including yours truly) love Friends, plain and simple. Matthew Perry’s bumbling Chandler Bing was one of the most endearing characters, giving him instant name recognition even among desis.
Well, apparently the love, was mutual, at least between Perry and one brown person, M. Night Shyamalan.
He explains, “I was at the People’s Choice Awards a while back and that night I met all the Sixth Sense people; …

Its a dull day today so for no reason  at all , here is an old favorite.
The Disco era was truly kind to no-one!

One of my all time favorites!

About 4 months back, we blogged about NRI grooms and their marriage prospects going down the drain with the stock market. WSJ concurs.
Without rehashing some of the points from the earlier post, here’s the top 10 tips for potential grooms.
1. Do your research. Go prepared. You will be asked to expound on the effects of the economy on the job market, your job, your prospective bride, her parents’ chances on travelling to the U.S, etc.
During a two-week wife-hunting trip to India in December, Mr. Marwaha interviewed 20 potential brides in …

Dear Readers: If you are a fan of “House” please stop reading RIGHT NOW. Major spoilers ahead!
For those of you who have been following “House” half as obsessively as I have – you should know that this weeks episode had a major shocker. Dr.Lawrence Kutner (our very own Kal Penn) committed suicide. I knew that this was going to happen almost a month ago . The Ausiello files predicted the death of a major male character on a leading TV series, I narrowed it down to “House” and I …

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Columbia University in collaboration with the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center at the University of California-Santa Cruz and the Satyajit Ray Preservation Project at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles present a series of films by the Grand Master in NY .
Details of screening here
Long before the Slumdog Millionaires of the world , Ray burst onto the international scene with Pather Panchali, which would be the first in the Apu trilogy. You can see that film as well as other …

see more pwn and owned pictures

Gursharan Kaur, wife of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seems entertained by Michelle Obama and her hubby says “wassup Barack”. (images via TOI)
Singh supposedly asked for Obama’s autograph for his daughters. [IBN]
One of Manmohan Singh’s daughter, Amrit, is an ACLU lawyer. She also co-authored a book speaking out against torture by the Bush administration. [Rediff]

Residents of the upper class enclave in Santa Clara , an upscale community near Silicon Valley woke up to reports of a tragedy that took the lives of 6 family members.
six bodies were scattered around the three-story townhome, four were dead, including a 42-year-old man whom police suspect was the shooter (link)
The dead inlcuded the shooter, his two children aged 11 and 4, a 35 year old male , a 25 year old female and a year old toddler. The wife of the shooter survived but is in critical condition. …

Kundra’s first month as Obama’s CIO has been quite eventful. First his DC office is embroiled in scandal, requiring Kundra to go on a leave of absence in his first month at work. And now this … [ABC]
The mysterious petty theft that President Barack Obama’s new computer chief committed at age 21 was shoplifting four dress shirts worth $134 from J.C. Penney.
What prompted the CIOman to commit this heinous crime is not known at this stage and is anyone’s guess. Impressing a girl or a dumb bet made with a …

Volatile India-Pakistan Standoff Enters 11,680th Day

Remember Neel Kashkari? At the time of our previous post, his future was unknown because of the change of governments.
Kashkari still oversees $700 billion (or remainder thereof)img: via Time
Turns out Neel (Darth) Kashkari stayed on despite losing his mentor, Hank (Emperor) Paulson and remains at the helm of TARP (Troubled Assests Relief Program), another term for bad loans made by banks and other financial institutions.
Kashkari recently surfaced defending his deathstar, a.k.a TARP funds to financial institutions, as Congress questioned his approach. [CNN Money]
The point of contention here is funding of …