Desi ishtyle [link] (tip maisnon via email)
No thanks to Anurag Mathur’s The Inscrutable Americans, it has been every desi guy’s dream to join the mile high club. Murali Nookella achieved it in typical desi ishtyle and probably landed himself on the FBI no-fly list.
Say you’re a 34 year old horny male computer programmer from the subcontinent stuck on a boring cross country flight. What do you do for fun? If your name is Murali Nookella, the answer would be: pull out the male organ and start pleasuring one’s self.
A Delaware …

60 years ago, when the constitution of India was adopted, our freedom fighters hardly expected the unity to remain fragile 60 years later. We stand united in our love for ‘miley sur mera tumara’ for it’s star value and…wait! Before I can finish my latest news on our unity, there were a few interruptions, mostly controversies this video generated. But, watch the video first…

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Now back to the latest news, (only 10 or 20 min old) depending on whether you watched the second part of the video or not.
Raj Thackeray condemned …

Rediff reports:
Obama’s Diwali celebration upsets Indian-American community.
Here’s the back story – ex-president Bush started the practice of hosting a Diwali event since 2003, courtesy request of the Indian-American community and it’s been a practice ever since. Some of the events have been full fledged and upto two hours long, while some, like last year’s,  have been less flashy.
While the article about the first Obama-era Diwali, quoted above, points out reasons why Indian Americans are upset (mostly elderly immigrant Indians), the rest of the article quotes two second generation desis – …

It is a truth universally acknowledged in India that a politician bereft of an issue to express his indignation over, would concoct one out of thin air. The moment such a concoction is introduced to the mango citizens (aam janta if you are wondering), the Indian news-media congregates to take a swig out of the barrel and proceeds to get high.

This familiar scene is playing out currently in India. In what has to be the most WTF evoking “It happens only in India” type occurrences that I have seen since moving back home, an innocuous exchange on Twitter (see image below) between a journalist and the most famous Indian recipient of the Colbert Bump in dominating newsprint and airwaves. It has politicians jostling among themselves to express their displeasure and the media, not one to be left behind, has been fanning the flames mentioning twits and twats every minute of the day for the past 24 hours and counting.

Spiderman plays the sitar on the sidewalk in Key West, FL.

Quick Gun Murugan, a Tamil speaking cowboy dressed in bright clothes and leotard jackets, seems to be attempting a comeback of sorts after capturing the imagination of millions in the 90s. Being in tune with the times, he picked a Bhangra number with popstar Mika and also learned to speak Hindi. While we’re all for QGM appearing in bhangra (and even, rap) videos, his new found knowledge of Hindi is likely to earn him the label of “Sellout” from hardcore fans who drew immense enjoyment from his Tamil-English punchlines. Mind …

In his new documentary “Good Hair”, Chris Rock does his own unique irreverent take on the African-American hair culture. His quest for good hair takes him to India, the largest exporter of human hair. Check out the video between 1:40 and 2:00 for the Indian segment. (@desinole RT @Naunihal on #uberdesi)

BBC has a photo feature on political leaders and their love of statutes, of themselves. [BBC]
Leading the group is U.P. Chief Minister Mayawati and her parade of statutes of herself and her mentors. Curiously, one of them (immediate right of Mayawati) seems to resemble Mr. Miyagi, complete with a pose that appears to be a karate punch to the gut.

The latest tempest-in-a-teapot appears to over Burger King putting the picture of Hindu goddess Laxmi on a burger wrapper with the slogan (translated from Spanish) – ‘The Sacred Snack’. (Karthik+Prathima+Sidhu+Runa via email) [TOI]
Publicity hound, Rajan Zed, of course, could not stay away from the action. [Scoop]
Burger King has since withdrawn the ad with an apology. From my point of view, growing up in a Hindu household, I could see how something like this may draw a few “aiyo”s from some elderly family members. But then again they would never actively …

Another Bollywood version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, this time courtesy the Ramsay brothers.
This one is so bad, it’s not half as funny as the Chiranjeevi version of Thriller.

Superheroes, pets, little kids, desis and people of all skin hues and nationalities getting their groove on to bhangra beats in broad daylight in Central Park, NY. Have any of our NY area readers ever come across this ritual?

He Man comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress – Bollywood ishtyle. Bollywood created a musical rendition of the cheesy cartoon show complete with junior artistes in florescent skeleton clothes and a Skeletor idol with flashing eyes. He Man is played by a random white dude, yelling “He Man, He Man, I’m He Man”.
The movie is a generic 80s action movie. In case you were wondering, the music is by, who else, Bappi Lahiri. Which brings us to the next important question: what would a Yash Raj-Karan Johar …

I always warn my mother not to bring pickles when visiting here from the des. [Here's why] (tip Runa via email)

A suspicious piece of luggage that the Columbus Bomb Squad detonated Tuesday night at Port Columbus International Airport turned out to be a canister filled with pickled mangoes.
You see Indians are much more conscientious about recycling. So when we are done with a jar of baby food, instead of tossing into the garbage, we recycle. We use it as a container for pickles. Apparently, TSA authorities find such recycling …

Adam Mamawala is a 22 year old budding comedian from new Jersey. Having just finished college he plans to make his mark in the entertainment industry as a stand up comedian. We liked his youtube videos (Caution – audio may not be safe for work), and were of the opinion that he is going to be a big star. So we decided to shoot some quick questions to him, and his responses are below – unfiltered and unedited. It’s pretty impressive to see some insightful replies from a young …

This curious picture from Karachi, Pakistan is actually an anti-US protest rally. However, what these protestors don’t know is that, “Go America Go” has an entirely different meaning to Americans, who are used to hearing this cry in a positive sense, one of encouragement, especially in sports. img: via TOI

As things stand, socially, culturally and numerically, it’s a daunting task for most single Indian males to find sex in real life. Then you have Hindu nationalists and a veritable army of moral police who want to ban sex from the media. Now we have Microsoft doing the ultimate KLPD by denying sex on the last bastion of lonely desi males, Al Gore’s Internet.

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?

File this under the “man bites dog” section. Kailash Singh, a resident of a village outside the holy Indian city of Varanasi, has ventured where no human has gone before – he has skipped the water, soap and even the toothbrush for the last 35 years. [Yahoo] (tip Karthik via email)
So what does Kailash do instead of showering?
Kailash “Kalau” Singh replaces bathing and brushing his teeth with a “fire bath” every evening when he stands on one leg beside a bonfire, smokes marijuana and says prayers to Lord Shiva
He even …

What it takes for an 8-sec announcement on television. Thank God for reporting that is not live…
Uber reporter – Chand Nawab, Indus News, Karachi….

The latest in the “foot in mouth” chronicles starring  Texas Rep Betty Brown:
Rep. Betty Brown suggested that Asian Americans might want to adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with” when they want to vote so their names will match what is on registration rolls (link: via angryasianman.com)
To be fair, the hon. representative was definitely *not* addressing Indian names because as every school kid in America knows – Indians are not Asian ! ( ASIDE: This was one of the biggest culture shocks for me when I moved …