Sadhus Inspire 'Prince of Pot'

Sadhus can offer inspiration for quiet a lot of things, but this one kicked Marc Emery to start a Ganja Party, a Bhang Magazine and a Charas-TV!

In 1992, Marc Emery was just another visitor to India. When he visited Pushkar in Rajasthan, he says he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Sadhus were smoking ganja openly. No policemen interrupted them. In Varanasi, sadhus used ganja and bhang. In Jaisalmer, I found a shop which sold charas. Damn it. Back in North America we were spending million of dollars to stop drug trade, and here in India nobody stopped these sadhus. There was no prohibition. I found India very inspirational,'' he told this correspondent some time ago.
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- HT

Causing Domestic Disturbance

You've heard stories from the Indian Government/Media about how ISI is creating chaos in India. How would it sound from the other side? RAW, India's espionage agency bothering Pakistan!

A report by a Pakistani researcher on the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), says that the organisation is pursuing its agenda in all neighbouring countries, including Pakistan despite confidence building measures (CBMs).

RAW is still encouraging terrorism in Pakistan despite the CBMs that are a part of the ongoing composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, said Fehmida Ashraf, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies in a private television’s programme on Saturday.

“According to my research and information, RAW is still destabilising and weakening Pakistan internally and is damaging its international image,” she said. “It is operating vast networks of terrorism in Pakistan and is exploiting some of the people and the organisations which are dissatisfied with the government to conduct subversive activities that destabilise the country.”
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- Daily Times

89 Days to Setup a Business in India

Wonder what's keeping India from becoming major econonmy like China, try this:

A joint survey by the World Bank and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) states that it takes 89 days to start a business in India, as opposed to 2 days in Australia, 5 in the US and 41 in China.

This is mainly due to the inspector raj' that is still all pervasive despite extensive measures taken to eradicate it in the past decade.

A 'Fatwa' For What?

Here's some bad news from India that you wouldn't spot in the Pakistani Press:

Washington Times:

Six Muslim women in India, who refused to sell their land at ridiculously low prices to a local Muslim board, reportedly are facing a tough 'Fatwa.'

Under the religious ruling, the women in Hazaribagh in India's West Bengal state are forbidden from drawing water in the locality or use the local roads, reports the Calcutta Telegraph.

They also cannot buy groceries from neighborhood shops, and neighbors have been told to cut all contact with the women and their families.

In their complaint to the National Human Rights Commission, the women alleged the members of the Anjuman Committee had manipulated a resolution directing them to let the committee broker the land sale.

When they refused, the women said, they were first asked to pay a fine. When they refused again, the social boycott was imposed.

No Driving Lessons On The Runway Please

It's a common practice in India to learn driving early in the morning, when the traffic is thin. It's also a good habit to check the road before you start your lessons, even if the 'road' happens to be the runway at Indira Gandhi International Airport. Two cops (one a SPG Commando) who claimed they were riding the scooter to the Pir Baba shirne within the airport's premises, almost missed their prayers 'cause they did not notice the Royal Jordanian Arliner that was about to take-off from that runway.

In a serious breach of security at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday, two persons — a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable and an SPG commando — entered the apron area on a scooter and then proceeded towards the taxiing area (used by aircraft to move towards the runway). Their vehicle came close to colliding with a Royal Jordanian Airlines aircraft that was readying for takeoff.
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- HT

The Tandoori Story

It's about that baked chicken on everybody's mouth in the US of A. Ask your new American friend to name the language commonly spoken in India. Chances are, a few pondering moments later you'd get the answer - "Hindu". Ask the same person, what India's favourite food is, "Tandoori Chicken" you'll be told in a flash. Isn't it worth finding out it's origin and what's behind it's celebrity status, from the Horse's mouth! This is the Story that dead Chickens don't tell.

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Kundan Lal Gujral, who came to India from the North West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan) during the subcontinent's partition, was the man who first got the idea of baking chicken in the great earth oven, common across villages in the subcontinent for baking bread.

The chicken emerged, as James Traub wrote in his 1984 book 'India, the Challenge of Change', "light pink in the centre, crisp on the outside, slightly smoky throughout and with a fine mist of sauce still clinging on the surface."

"It is pungent with cumin and coriander, rather than hot with chilli. One should give in, after the first bite of tender chicken, to the sudden desire to weep. India is an emotional country, after all," Traub wrote.

In fact, the chicken tikka masala, which has now become almost a national dish of Britain, is an offshoot of Kundan Lal's tandoori chicken and butter chicken.

The dish made the man. So impressed was India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by Kundal Lal's dishes that Moti Mahal became a permanent fixture in all his state banquets.

Standing beside a large framed photo of Jawaharlal Nehru talking to Jacqueline Kennedy before a lunch catered by Moti Mahal, Monish rattled off names of celebrities who fell for tandoori chicken.

"(Former American President Richard) Nixon, the King of Nepal, (Nikolai Bulganin), (Nikita) Krushchev, (Hindi film actor) Prem Chopra, everyone loved our food," said Monish.

"In fact, when the Shah of Iran came on a state visit to India, the Indian Education Minister Maulana Azad told him that coming to Delhi without eating at Moti Mahal was like going to Agra and not seeing the Taj Mahal," he reminisced.

In fact, so impressed was Krushchev with Moti Mahal food that he invited Kundan Lal to have a shop at an international trade fair in Moscow.

After Nehru, his daughter and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi continued the relationship with Moti Mahal. So fascinated was she by the food that at the wedding of her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, Moti Mahal specialties dominated the dinner.
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- HT

The Leaning Minaret Of Taj

When you're 350 years old, you get too much attention. In fact all the attention that's been missing in the past is reserved only for such annual celebrations. It's in times such as these that they discover there's something tilting, very dangerously. In the Taj's case it would be one of it's minarets.

Agra - Authorities in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state have launched an urgent investigation after historians reported that one of the minarets of the Taj Mahal is tilting dangerously, an official said.
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The Taj Mahal, with four slender minarets, was built by heartbroken Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his second wife, Empress Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth. It sits on the banks of the Yamuna river.

Historian and former vice chancellor of Agra University Agam Prasad Mathur said the Yamuna river bed must once again be filled to prevent the minaret from tilting further.

"It was during a survey conducted by British colonial rulers in 1940 when it was found that the minaret had tilted by about 11cm. Another survey in 1965 found the tilt had increased by about 15cm," said Mathur.

"With passing time, the tilt must have increased and needs to be determined," he said, adding that the Yamuna river needs to be full to maintain the monument's balance.

"The foundation of the Taj Mahal is laid on a hillock and is based on wells underneath which require moisture from the Yamuna river. Regular flow of water in the Yamuna is a must... the tilting could be a fallout of scarcity of water in the river," he added.

He explained that the Taj stands on a raised platform and the four 13m minarets at each corner give it balance. The minarets have deliberately been constructed to tilt slightly to prevent them from crashing onto the tomb in the event of an earthquake.

Ram Nath, former head of history at Rajasthan University, sounded a similar warning.

"Dangerous tilts in its minarets, first noticed in 1942 and mentioned in various reports, have continued to increase over the years," Nath told the Hindustan Times. "They are caused by the dry river bed."

Lawyer Ajay Agarwal said he would urge the Supreme Court to order the state government to construct a barrage to ensure the water level in the Yamuna stayed constant to prevent the minaret from tilting further.

"Immediate action is needed to save the Taj Mahal," said Agarwal.

The Archaeological Survey of India has played down the perceived danger.

"We do have regular surveys done by concerned authorities after every four years at the Taj Mahal and any such anomaly in a minaret of the Taj could not have gone unnoticed," said a senior survey official, who did not want to be named.
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- Independent Online

TV-Be-Gone

Imagine, you had a small keychain and pressing a tiny button on it could turn a TV off, ANYWHERE. You know where I'm going with this. Yes, TV-Be-Gone does just that. Wish I had one for the Office cafeteria.

WIRED wrote:

Altman's key-chain fob was a TV-B-Gone, a new universal remote that turns off almost any television. The device, which looks like an automobile remote, has just one button. When activated, it spends over a minute flashing out 209 different codes to turn off televisions, the most popular brands first.

For Altman, founder of Silicon Valley data-storage maker 3ware, the TV-B-Gone is all about freeing people from the attention-sapping hold of omnipresent television programming. The device is also providing hours of entertainment for its inventor.

That Smell of New York City

Missing that smell of New York? Laurice Rahme says don't worry, they've packed it in a bottle. Chelsea, Park Avenue, Wall Street, they got them all.

CNN reports:

The collection of 21 fragrances ranges from a bouquet scent for Chelsea, the city's flower district, to a rich coffee- and vanilla-tinged New Haarlem. The chamomile-based fragrance Park Avenue is elegant, while Fashion Avenue is an avant-garde combination of mimosa and black currant.

The Wall Street fragrance does not, she points out, smell like money. Rather, the scent, at $190 for a 3.4 oz. bottle, combines sea kale, cucumber and lavender to reflect the area's waterfront and emergence as one of the city's newest residential neighborhoods.

Dixie Classic Fair

Stinking farms, Pony Ride, Oil-soaked 'Amazing' Onions, free Circus, Tractor Show-offs, useless stuffed Toys and plenty of makeshift rides were all there at this year's Dixie Classic Fair, so were we. We caught the last three days of the fair. Ah, the beauty of living down South ;)

Will write more about it shortly. Here are the snaps for now...

Don't miss these vintage snaps of the DC Fair.

WB Goes from Red to Green, For IT Sake

In India, IT makes everyone bend over. The most spectacular comes from one of India's Red States, West Bengal. The communist Government doesn't want lose the IT race; it's even made IT and "Essential Service"!

BBC reports:

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To make this possible, West Bengal's communist government has taken some steps that might make even a staunch capitalist blanche.

It has declared IT - and IT-enabled services such as call centres - to be essential services.

This means workers are banned from striking.

West Bengal also offers attractive subsidies to companies looking to invest.

And it is trying hard to combat the perception of the state as bureaucratic and lethargic.

The IT ministry is located in the business centre of the city and has made a point of dispensing with the type of petty officials who make life difficult for visitors to many other government departments.

The IT minister has even guaranteed he will meet potential investors within 48 hours.

If a big obstacle crops up, the chief minister himself, Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee, will get involved.
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Cell Phones Do Explode

It happens so often, you're Cell phone's battery has drained. You're waiting for that important call, but you've got to hit the Bed. You let you Mobile sleep next to you, while you're catching up with your sleep. Imagine your sweet dream being interrupted by your phone's explosion! Can't believe it, try this.

Meanwhile, cell phones aren't the primary distractions for American Drivers; it's almost at the bottom. It looks like more people try to pick up stuff or look for sweeter music, before they reach out to heaven.

Top distractions

Percentage of drivers engaged in distracting activities:

Reaching, leaning, etc.: 97.1
Manipulating music/audio controls: 91.4
Eating, drinking, etc.: 71.4
Conversing: 77.1
Grooming: 45.7
Reading or writing: 40.0
Using cell phone: 30.0
Smoking: 7.1

Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, August 2003 study

Indian Coffee for Starbucks

You could soon be sipping a cup of hot brew of Indian Coffee, at Starbucks. Thanks to an agreement between Starbucks and Tata Coffee, India will supply coffee to the World, again.

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The Starbucks deal with Tata Coffee "is yet another significant milestone to show how Indian coffee is gaining acceptance in the international market," Tata Coffee Ltd. managing director Hamid Ashraff said in a statement.

Tata Coffee is Asia's largest coffee plantation company, producing 10 million kilograms of coffee each year from plantations spread across the hilly districts of Coorg, Chickmagalur and Hassan in India's Karnataka state.

Despite its seemingly ubiquitous presence, Starbucks only buys about two per cent of the world's coffee. But the company is a far bigger buyer of high-quality coffee, and that is harder to come by.

To satisfy its brisk growth rate, the company is willing to pay a premium price. In some cases, it has even begun working with coffee growers to help them meet its standards.

Starbucks currently has about 8,500 stores around the globe, including about 6,100 in the United States. The company is planning to more than triple the number of its worldwide outlets to 30,000, with half of those in the United States, company officials said this month.

Starbucks also plans to set up outlets in India. The company has decided against expanding rapidly into many new countries and is trying to focus on a few where it sees a lot of potential, including India, it said.

Musqiuto Repelling Shirts!

Talk about adapting to the conditions. Peter Kin presents 'IQ' Shirts for 9-5 Executives, that keep out not just Musquitos, but body odour, Coffee stains and heat.

Indian apparel companies have introduced a range of clothes for slogging nine to five executives, shirts and trousers that emanate perfume, repel mosquitos, keep you cool and remain spotless even when splashed with coffee.

The concept has been well received in grimy India where weather often dictates what you wear or don’t wear, company officials said. After a modest beginning when they were relegated to the “new arrivals” shelves, the “smart” or IQ (intelligent) clothes are beginning to get noticed.

In May, Peter Kin International, a Bangalore-based company, launched the first-of-its-kind “mosquito repellent” shirt. “The shirts are given a special wash treatment with a chemical that resists mosquitos,” Ram Purohit, company’s business head, told AFP. “It’s a very skin friendly chemical.”
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Other popular items in his wardrobe include “fragrance shirts” and the more common “anti-perspirants” starting at 700 rupees (15 dollars). “The fragrance shirts have really picked up given the hot and humid climate of India,” he said. “I can give you any fragrance from fresh lime to strawberry to chocolate.”

'Khula bandi' - India's Open Jail

An open jail in India, it's so open, these guys are almost scot-free. Save the rollcall at dawn and dusk, they can have their jobs, conduct business, live with relatives, even go out to a movie. Now, where is the Indian Human Rights Commission?

Not a cluster of iron-barred cells but houses built by themselves with their own money. Homes that contain parents, spouse, children, grandchildren—one living room with a TV, a kitchen, a toilet and a square of empty patch to keep a cow or a two-wheeler. Naveen Sharma’s Tata Sierra is too big, so he parks it in front of his house; the trucks and trailers used for the building material supply business he conducts over a couple of phone lines stand on the road outside.

It’s as close to a normal life a prisoner sentenced to life under section 302 can have. Staying with family, getting parole to visit relatives/village property, leaving every morning for a job/shop/business, going even to a matinee show—all the work/play that can be done between 6 am and 7 pm. At those precise hours, prisoners gather near the gate in the courtyard for a headcount. None must stay out at night, none must delay his return without prior notice. Families though are free to move in and out. Relatives dropping by to stay are fine too.

Because of the haajri (headcount) bar, Sanganer inmates must have a job within a 5-10 km radius. Still, they consider themselves blessed. All of them make a decent living—the poorest gets Rs 1,500 working the borewell pump. Most are ready to leave in two months to a couple of years and are tying up loose ends before beginning a new life, where none might regard them with suspicion or fear. Says 45-year-old Vinod Kumar Sharma, cutting master at a Rajasthan Industrial and Investment Corporation (RIICO) unit, who’s already spent 12 years eight months in prison, seven of that in Jaipur jail: "The older boy is 22, I have to give him a respectable life. After I get out, who cares what I eat, how I earn? Phir toh aaraam hi aaraam hai (then I’ll just relax)."
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Sharma now works for projects worth Rs 15 crore and has a turnover of Rs 70 lakh a year."I can’t even give my address to my clients, yet God has been kind to me".Last year, he built the lone temple in the jail compound in gratitude.

But homoeopath Anil Sharma isn’t so kind. "I don’t treat patients here. They are welcome to my clinic." A five-minute scooter ride from the prison, his clinic does steady business through the day. Your practice must be fetching at least ten thousand a month, I suggest. The doctor smiles indulgently: "That’s what it costs to just run the house and pay school fees."

Prisoners have another god—additional DGP Arun Dugar, head of prisons. To him goes the sole credit for the success of the open jail concept launched in the state by a governor inspired by the film Do Aankhe Baarah Haath. "Till 1996," says Naveen, "there were three huts and 35 prisoners working as farmhands. It was an experiment gone awry."
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But does trust work all the way? Says Dugar: "To come here, prisoners need to have served at least one-third of their term in a regular cell, have a spotless record, and can’t be a rapist or serial killer. I have a three-R principle: reform, rehabilitation and (self-) reliance. The idea is to prepare the lifers to reintegrate into society." That the concept is working is clear from the fact that in eight years, only three went AWOL. One returned after a few days, one was found drunk; only the third is untraced. Bad behaviour gets punished by a return to normal jail.

Dugar doesn’t consider Sanganer inmates criminals—"they’re just unfortunate people". They don’t need any help to find jobs now. He’s now working on a grand open prison at Kota for 441 people and one for hardened criminals with a higher wall and tie-up with local factories. He shows as much exuberance as his prisoners. When Naveen proudly displays his bank statement of the last three years, when Urmila vows she won’t quit fighting for her rights, when Narpat Singh regrets he can’t keep his provision store open till nine because of the evening haajri, I’m reminded of what they say about the human spirit being unbreakable.
- Outlook

Oscar's Wildest

Oscar Wilde would have celebrated 150 today, had he been alive. Since he isn't, BBC picks, what it thinks is this Genius' best Quotes. I have more than one to pick as my favourites, but this is what I'm tempted to use for my Blog:

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about"

* Link contributed by Harsha.