Study suggest incense burning could lead to cancer

Looks like you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! 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 [...]

The Hindoo has come …to Uberdesi

Our regular readers know that we at Über Desi have been following with interest the controversy over the recent Mike Myers’ debacle “The Love Guru”. (See all previous posts here :1,2,3,4,5 and more).Its no secret which side of the controversy I stand on : I believe that the protests by Hindus were misguided and [...]

The faceless terrorist

Last year, Outlook India published a list of ‘villains’ that Über Desi blogged about here, and what struck me was an entry into the list that is probably the most relevant today, the faceless terrorist. This entry made it into a list in a respected Indian journal. Would you ever see such an entry [...]

Shiv Sainiks perform puja at Taj Mahal

After calling for Hindu suicide bombers, Thackeray’s people now want to anoint the Taj Mahal a Hindu temple. [TOI]
Taj Mahal is really Tejo Mahal per Shiv Senaimg: via NYT
In an attempt to reclaim the Taj Mahal as a Hindu temple, a few Sainiks entered the Taj premises disguised as tourists and started a ritual or [...]

Now it’s a Hanuman murti* for Obama

* Murti = idol in Hindi
Them Hindoos currently are nowhere close to being a dominant force when it comes to electorate size in the US [UD]. But that doesn’t stop from trying to influence the outcome of the November elections. Back in April, when Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania, she was gifted a Ganesh murti [UD]. [...]

Unlikely Support For The Love Guru (UPDATED)

(scroll to the bottom for an update)
The makers of the new Mike Myers homage to juvenile toilet humor, have managed to garner support from an unlikely source. The same source that the movie parodies, well sort of.
The North American Chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has just urged Hindus protesting Guru [...]

God’s Divine Messenger Shows Obama The Light

The Pundit of Pizazz, Stephen G. Colbert, helps Barack Obama find a new religion by exploring Hinduism with Hindu Temple Society of North America President Uma Mysorekar and presents some Hin-do’s and Hin-don’ts.

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Desi protests: A tale of two nations

In Amreeka, Hindu protestors want a free ticket to “The Love Guru” so they can discover how they’re being lampooned, if at all. Rajan Zed and gang are still awaiting the ticket - 100% free desi ishtyle - but seems like Paramount won’t relent. [Tri-Valley Herald] (tip Runa via email) [NDTV] (tip Sai via email)
Across [...]

The Exorcism Of Susan By The Young Piyush Jindal

Via Boing Boing comes this amazing story about dark forces and spiritual healing, an incident that will be out of place on a Twilight Zone script. And we, at UberDesi would not have even batted an eyelid, if not for the fact that the main protagonist in question was our own Bobby. No, not that [...]

We said it first, Mr.Chopra !

There is an old ,old cliche - great minds think alike. Ahem ! We are very happy to report that Deepak Chopra has come out swinging against those who are protesting Mike Myers’ “The Love Guru. We at UD were way ahead of him - see earlier posts 1,2,3.In an online essay,Mr. Chopra [...]

More Hindoos are coming

As expected, the “Love Guru” is the gift that keeps on giving. ( see our previous post 1, 2 )
Our favorite “Hindu leader” Rajan Zed is now joined by Bhavna Shinde, representing the pompously- named Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and the Sanatan Society for Scientific Spirituality. Ms.Shinde is very industrious as she has sent communiques to [...]

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 [...]

“The Love Guru” MySpace page

Like all underground promotional campaigns do, the movie “The Love Guru” has created it’s own Myspace Page.

Among other things listed on here:
Under Interests:

Movies:
Arranged Wedding Crashers”. “Meet the Fakirs“.
“A Fistful of Rupees“. “Police Academy 3″. Guttenbuuuuurg!
Under Details:
Orientation: Straight (into S but not M)
Body Type: Sassy, Classy, with a nice high Assy
Ethnicity: American
School: Tugginmypudha Ashram
Occupation: Guru/life guide/Bikini [...]

Now serving: Halal Chinese & Halal KFC

KFCs in Dearborn, Michigan, serving Halal fried chicken (pictured left) and Chinese restaurants in Orlando, Florida (pictured right) serving Halal Kung-Pow chicken.

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Hindu hardliners masquerading as Indian-American intellectuals

A Hindu hardliner group known as the “Indian American Intellectual Forum” has made its presence felt recently with recent protests organized in the US opposing the screening of Jodhaa Akbar and, more recently, protesting the auctions of MF Husain’s paintings by auction house Christie’s. By the very nature of the protests doesn’t the use of [...]

These couples have really strong calf muscles

or really tough knees, depends on your perspective. 10000 reps of kneeling and standing up will do that. This story seems right out of a wet dream of an orientalist. [link] (tip Sai via email).
A long long time ago in a gully far far away, when this scrawny little Indian kid indulged in behavior that [...]

Empress 1, Christians 0

Just shoot me and be done with it !
When Paris Hilton was slated to play Mother Theresa , I gamely put on a brave face and soldiered on. But if Mallika Sherawat is to act beside Jesus Christ , I cannot carry on any more. (link)
The film ( “The Aquarius Gospel”) will trace [...]

Worshipping on taxpayer rupees

The Andhra Pradesh government will now pay Christians to visit Israel. [link]
The Andhra Pradesh government will subsidise pilgrimage trips for Christians who want to travel to Israel, officials said.
There are about 1.2 million Christians in the state, representing nearly 2 percent of the state’s population. Among them is Chief Minister Y.S. Rajsekhara Reddy.
Lest we be [...]

Godman one step closer to God

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, one -time Guru to the Beatles died in Holland today [link] .The Maharishi parlayed knowledge of Hindu scripture into a multi-million dollar empire. He founded the Transcedental Meditation movement. In recent years, his followers have been ridiculed for claiming to have achieved “Yogic flight”.Demonstrations of these usually had a couple of folks, [...]

Namecalling Ganesha

The evil Western media does it again. The Guardian of the UK allegedly published an article about places to visit and mentioned Mumbai’s Ganeshotsav celebrations as a “festival for gay men”. Predictably, the nutso faction went into overdrive with the Shiv Sena foaming at the mouth. Kudos to them however for refraining from burning effigies [...]

Symonds depicted as the über monkey in Aussie media

The Australian newspaper, The Courier-Mail, ran a photoshopped image of Andrew Symonds’ face superimposed on Hanuman’s body. tip: Sai via Gmail.
Symonds is the Aussie cricketer whom Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh allegedly called “a monkey”. Predictably Hindu groups are up in arms against this depiction. [link]
So what do you Über Desis think?
1. It is phunny
2. I’m [...]

Merry Ramahanukwanzeidmas: It is the mosht vunderful time of the year

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Ho ho ho! Merry Krishnas???

The Puri Jagannath Temple finds Christmas e-cards on its website. I guess they never heard of banners ads. Predictably, the priests get their langottis in a bunch, protest outside the temple and get the banner ads removed from the website. Meanwhile, in UK a 9 year old kid is banned from the school Christmas party [...]

Urinate like a Hindu

A 71 year old planning commissioner in Michigan resigned after her remarks on Hindus caused a controversy. [link]
Catherine Johnson, 71, stunned residents this month by claiming neighbors told her several women urinated outside Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (BAPS) Temple during its 2000 groundbreaking — and asking whether it was some sort of ritual.
While I don’t agree [...]

The Rajan Zed prayer show

Remember Rajan Zed and the controversy over his prayer in the US Senate? Seems like Rajan is taking his little Hindu prayer show on the road. Coming soon to a Senate near you, the Rajan Zed prayer show [link]. Also available with alternate ending featuring heckling Christian evangelicals. P.S. will some practicing Hindu please enlighten [...]