Sometimes I think that because the Western media is so focused on the egregious human rights violators like the Taliban, some gems of news from the des get unfairly hidden. I cannot believe at the idiocy that flourishes in the name of governance back in the des. The Committee on Petitions in Chennai in its “wisdom” ( and I use the world sarcastically) has decided..
that there should be no sex education in schools since “our country’s social and cultural ethos are such that sex education has absolutely no place in …

Every desi knows the drill, be it at a temple or a church. Incense has always been a big part of our tradition. However a new study claims that prolonged exposure to incense could lead to cancer.
Image from abrinsky
"Given that our results are backed by numerous experimental studies showing that incense is a powerful producer of particulate matter and that incense smoke contains carcinogenic substances, I believe incense should be used with caution," said study author Dr. Jeppe Friborg, of the department of epidemiology research at Statens Serum …

Globalization has even touched the baby business. As this article in the NYtimes early this year said :

An enterprise known as reproductive outsourcing is a new but rapidly expanding business in India. Clinics that provide surrogate mothers for foreigners say they have recently been inundated with requests from the United States and Europe, as word spreads of India’s mix of skilled medical professionals, relatively liberal laws and low prices

The article goes on to discuss the various ethical and moral issues surrounding surrogacy including the very real possibility that third-world …

You must have, at some point yesterday come across the heartbreaking news that Vinay Chakravarthy lost the battle against leukemia.
A spokesperson for the family has this to say [Via SAJA]
“Vinay was an amazing soul who inspired all of us with his will to live. We take some comfort in knowing his journey may have saved lives through the campaign, and in all the lives he touched with his love and spirit.”
I cannot imagine the pain his family, friends and others who worked hard for the cause are going through, …

Hair plays a big part in our culture. Men grow moustaches, women grow their hair long, sometimes men grow their hair long (a.k.a Dhoni). People take care of their hair – male or female. Parachute hair oil, shikakai shampoos, Anoop hair oil, and numerous products in desi and regular stores – the options available to us are unlimited. Hair rules.
Yet for some reason, when South Asian men start balding, they panic and lose touch with reality. The result – scary hair, combovers of the worst kind. There is nothing wrong …

Airplanes are a germaphobe’s worst nightmare come true, particularly trans-continental flight. Add stories like these and it makes you want to never set foot in an airplane ever again.
A Nepali woman who was on a flight from New Delhi to Chicago and then onto San Francisco was diagnosed with a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, prompting fears she might have infected fellow passengers. [link]
The 30-year-old woman, a native of Nepal who now lives in Sunnyvale, Calif., had been diagnosed with drug-resistant TB in India, the Centers for Disease Control and …

Just when you thought that education would, in the long run, help resolve the growing number of HIV+ cases in India, the disease has morphed itself to create more trouble. Human trafficking networks are now after younger women, because that is what their ‘clients’ want.
The desire for younger women has been around for a long time, but my fear reached stratospheric heights when I read this
Desire for younger women is not the prime reason. The growing fear of catching sexually transmitted diseases from older women and belief that having sex …

No wireless Internet in this hospital room
I’m sure most NRIs, DBDs, ABDs – whatever you designation be, have come across numerous horror stories of health issues desi people encountered when they were on a short visit to India. I’ve been fairly lucky that I managed to dodge that bullet over the last 8 years. But the law of averages caught up bigtime this trip.
A few quick notes from my recent trip to an emergency room in India:

Daily News and Analysis has an interesting story about Indian Techie couples, who for the lack of time and inclination to get it on in the bedroom are now looking at artificial insemination.
20% of the couples, where both work in the IT industry seem to be the target clients here.

At least two out of every 10 ‘double-income-no-sex’ or DINS couples working in the IT industry are resorting to this Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART) because they have no time for sex or because the wife or the husband is away on …

NPR Morning Edition had this neat story on an Indian Catholic priest reviving an old tuberculosis sanatorium and converting it into a hospital for HIV +ve patients.
Some 160 miles south of Mumbai, one Catholic priest and the Indian Red Cross have created what some say is a model for AIDS care in the developing world.
The combination hospital and community center provides charity care without depending solely on charity itself.
Bel-Air Hospital is an old tuberculosis sanatorium, once famous for its advanced care. It was started in 1912 in a thick forest …

An undated photo showing the Doc with his family. From ABC news.
Just like the original Doogie Howser landed Harold in Jail, the desi version managed to land his parents in Jail.
It was widely reported that Dr. K. Murugesan played a video clip to An Indian Medical Association chapter in Tamilnadu last week in an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of World Records.

You learn something new every day. This morning I learnt sex toys were illegal in India. Pornography, I knew that was illegal in India, at the tender age of 11-12. But it took me almost 2 whole decades to realize sex toys are illegal also.
M.P. Government: Vibrating condoms are the devilimg: via BBC.com
Now to the topic on hand – WTF is a vibrating condom? Ribbed, studded, edible, flouroscent, scented, extra thin – all these kinds I’m familiar with. Maybe I’ve lead a sheltered life or not experimented enough, but a …

15 year old in Trichy allegedly performs a C-section operation under the guidance of his doctor father. However brilliant a kid is, would you want someone that young operating on you?

It’s all about your internal clock.
Is there a right time to have sex?
Scientifically you will find that Estrogen and Testosterone are at their highest levels early in the morning. In other words, we’re all “horniest” in the morning. Don’t let that stop you from having a mid-afternoon salt lassi or munching on a spicy taco for dinner.

Photo Source
Oh my gawd, Muffy, look at his foreskin.
It’s so big. *Ugh* He looks straight up smelly.
But, y’know, who understand those brown girls. *Eww*
They only talk to him, because, he is diirty, kay?
I mean, his foreskin, is just so ugly *Ugh*
I can’t believe it’s just so stretchy, it’ like,
out there covering his dick, I mean – gross. Look!
He’s just so…brown!
Got good foreskin? Probably not if you’re white male born in the good ole USA.
Circumcision may have been introduced in an attempt to eliminate masturbation. …

Picture source: Kitchens of India
Yoni butter and lingam juice is divinely delicious, usually. Give yours a try.
Does it taste like the sweet nectar of the gods or funk-nasty?
Here’s the deal, your juices are altered by what you eat. While I can’t get enough of mamma’s fish curry, I might have to fight the gag reflex with a mouth full of fishy swimmers. Urban dictionary defines fish curry as, “the vagina of an Indian female.” Not so yummy.
Who wants to be known for having a spicy …

For a very reasonable cost of Rs. 15,000-25,000, Indian women can now regain lost virginities. And we’re not talking about Baba Jadi-booti-wala (quacks who practice roadside treatments) types cures either. Plastic surgery can now fix what a horny boyfriend (pun unintended) broke.
It’s a 30-minute surgical procedure called hymenoplasty costing Rs 15,000 to 25,000 which has found many takers in Mumbai.
Further grotesque details of the surgery can be obtained from above link. Remember the “Like a Virgin” post? It’s highly ironic in an age of plastic surgery and pre-marital sex, people …

I heard this story on NPR Morning Edition this morning. Paul Trinder, a businessman from Brackley, Northamptonshire had a corpse of a woman, in his adjacent first class seat, on a flight from Delhi to Heathrow.
The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow, was carried by cabin staff from economy to first class, where there was more space. Her body was propped up in a seat, using pillows.
The woman’s daughter accompanied the corpse, and spent the rest of the journey wailing …

While searching for another article, I came across this interesting news tid-bit on CNN-IBN.
Satish, a software engineer by profession by the day and a drug peddler by night is the changing face of Pune’s drug mafia. He works for an American MNC, and knows all about computers and drugs
I have always been a proponent of having a good time, using legal means that is. Alcohol, Cigarettes and Cigars have been enough to do the necessary damage to my body. But illegal substances have never been attractive enough.

Image from CNN-IBN.

Readers who …