So this lady goes to a dollar store and buys what she thinks is gift wrapping paper. Comes home and horrors! sees that the red and gold paper is covered with “swastikas”.The local press gets involved and the result is this.

(Image: from wesh.com)
Its pretty obvious that this was some cheap wrapping paper made in India or China and targeted to the Diwali gift market. Post -Diwali, the paper finds its way to the dollar store and creates a sensation. Not helping the situation is the Rabbi quoted in the article:
But …

Two articles I read this morning stayed with me the entire day.
The first was this uplifting ( sarcasm) headline “India at bottom in man-woman equality index: World Economic Forum” in the Times of India. India ranked a shameful 114 out of 134 developing countries , indexed in terms of man-woman equality. The gender gap is increasing – not the least because of an estimated 25 Million ” missing women ” in India.Missing because of female foeticide or abortion. On the list , India ranks behind Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri …

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 – …

This is a post that I would rather not have written. It is one of those that is deeply uncomfortable and yet it must be written. Especially after the minor meltdown I had last week. Diepriye Kuku, an African American Phd Student at the Delhi School ofEconomics gives a searing and first hand account of the racism he faces daily in India in a piece entitled wincingly enough ” India is Racist, And Happy about it ” published in Outlook India. (link

Those of you who follow my sadly sporadic writing on this site probably know that I shy away from sharing any personal stuff. Today something happened. Something that has me wondering if I overreacted or if I did the right thing. I am going to let you judge.
Like many of our readers and like all my blog mates, I am a proud DBD. I was born and grew up in India. Nine years in the USA may have added Americanisms to my speech but my accent remains firmly Indian. I …

*ing Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan, Katrina Kaif and John Abraham

New York is a good watch! Especially since it’s not a typical Hindi film that we are so used to. And as any other movie, there are certain aspects of it that I liked, and certain that I didn’t. I was VERY surprised to see the Rediff rating for that movie, and I can’t understand why in the world someone would trash the movie and its actors that bad, especially since the acting was reasonably good.
**spoilers ahead**
What I liked –
All …

Is the great American H1B1 dream dead?

India, home to over 150 million Muslims was conspicuously absent from Obama’s Cairo speech. Oversight or snub?

Press report
April 27, 2009

Uberdesi Institute of Unfine Arts.
With the latest advances in the science of shoe flinging across the globe, we are pleased to announce a new diploma program that is open to domestic and foreign students of all races, gender and age.Our introductory brochure will give you more details about the program.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200904072026.htm
History:
Shoe flinging has traditionally  been an Asian concept, where you are taught that your own foot is the dirtiest part of your body and since a shoe or other footwear covers it, it’s the lowliest form of …

Translation: “Farmer is king”. This seems to be the mantra of rural India these days. [Boston]
Rural India shiningimg: via Boston.com
In the 2004 elections, the BJP came out with the now infamous “India shining” slogan. Big mistake. Rural India was still catching with it’s urban half. Urban India was indeed shining, rural India not yet.
The result: the BJP received a drubbing in the general elections at the hand of the rural electorate, which by the way accounts for over 70% of the total electorate. This time around the boot is on …

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Chinese occupation of Tibet and Dalai Lama’s flight to India, the UK Times has an entire section dedicated to this event. Dalai Lama’s arduous flight to India has been captured in these unique photos. [Times UK]
Also of interest is this news clip from the Times published in 1959. [News Clip]

The Election Commission (EC) of India says no to a minister’s blog and before bloggers cry “freedom of speech”, this was a great decision by the EC. [TOI]
The minister was reportedly (mis)using the state’s resources, his blog was on the police department’s website, and the minister was reportedly using his blog for advertising himself for the upcoming elections. Any private citizen using his/her employer’s resources would probably meet a similar fate at the hands of the employer. You are free to blog about yourself or any other topic under the …

Today is International Women’s Day. I cannot wish all our readers a “Happy Women’s Day” because truth to be told there is not much to be happy about.
The Times of India says so (link)
Studies show that a woman is raped every 35 minutes in India; female child mortality is higher than male by 25%-50% in India, Bangladesh and Nepal….. the average South Asian woman’s risk of dying in childbirth is a hundred times greater than for a woman in an industrialized country
Before we start congratulating ourselves on living in the …

That didn’t take long. Someone had to take a dig at Jindal’s Indian origin sooner or later.

MSNBC talking head Chris Matthews, also known for his pro-Obama bias perhaps went overboard defending Obama against Jindal’s criticism.
Says Matthews:
They had to outsource the response tonight, the Republican party.
Then he quickly realizes the implication of what he’s trying to say and tries to make a halfhearted attempt at qualifying it.
They had to outsource it to someone who had nothing to do with Congress because the Republicans in Congress had nothing to do with the …

Growing up we were told: Keep your head down, eyes averted , be ladylike .The nuns at school would not let us run in the hallways – no matter what the emergency. We had to walk like ladies, talk like ladies.
The conventional wisdom drilled into us when we – oh so often – encountered that loathsome breed – the roadside Romeo was -Don’t respond. Don’t acknowledge the insult. Don’t make eye contact. Keep your head down,keep traveling like nothing happened – like no-one was saying filthy things or passing lewd …

The Pink Chaddi wars (as the events of the past couple of days have been termed here at UD) caused a lot of traffic between the email inboxes of the Über bloggers. The arguments proved to be heated and since countering Runakka’s informed arguments proved be a hard task, one of UD’s alums had to be brought in. And Sakshi responded to give us her view of the argument.
It’s quirky. It’s pink. It’s in your face. It’s attention grabbing. It’s the Pink chaddi campaign, started to oppose the moral police …

So the Grammys were on last night and a nice mixed bag of winners it was. Robert Plant won a bunch , along with Alison Krauss – including  Record of the year – woo hoo! Coldplay picked up three, Jennifer Hudson  got one to go with her Oscar, Lil Wayne picked up four!
MIA at the Grammys
img: via MSN
Whats the desi connection  you ask? Well M.I.A gets huge props for performing on stage (with Jay-Z , Kanye West,T.I. and Lil Wayne ) in an extremely advanced stage of pregnancy . That …

Growing up in India, I was a big fan of “a media outlet” that rhymes with MBCV and its leading journalists at that time – a bearded guy, a handsome young man and a woman reporter, who all shall stay unnamed. The news coverage by “a media outlet” that rhymes with MBCV was a welcome break from decades of stale news coverage that the government channels subjected us to. As more news channels stepped in, we’ve slowly watched the demise of quality coverage by private news channels. Understandably some of …

Movie starts.
Scene: Young man hanging from ceiling being tortured by Mumbai police.
Review: I’m offended. This is showing Mumbai police in bad light especially in the light of the heroism they displayed during the recent terror attacks. So this shows India in a poor light.
Scene: Mumbai police call young man “slumdog”.
Review: I’m offended. How dare they compare a slum dweller to a dog? So this shows India in a poor light.
Scene: Boy performs his daily habits through hole in the ground in a shed overlooking a cliff.
Review: I’m offended. Thinking to …

It may be only a couple of months old but seems like Barack Obama has been a President-elect for almost a year. Well, in case you missed it, he finally crossed the threshold amid much pageantry.
If you played a drinking game by doing a tequila shot each time the TV channels mentioned the words “Historic”, “God”, “America”, “Change” (noun), “Monumental”, “Kennedy” and “Lincoln” (bonus shot: if Lincoln’s bible was mentioned), and made it to this day without dying of alcohol poisoning, I tip my hat to thee. The word “Hindu” …