BubbleBabble: Democarcy

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Inscrutable India: A Rough Guide

Origin: Origin of India is a confusing one. The confusion is caused by Columbus when he decided to discover India in a different location. Despite significant migration in the later part of the twentieth century, the relocation was never completed, and the confusion persists. Even today, inhabitants of widely spread call centers across the country [...]

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Vedic Marriage, Video Divorce

In a mere decade, IT revolution has pulled India out of the anonymity of technological backwater and thrust us into the lime light of cutting edge. Technological advancement has touched all aspects of our lives, social or personal. Divorce is no exception: it is no longer served in secrecy with a dollop of shame and [...]

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Pakistan Clogs YouTube

Pakistan has blocked access to the YouTube so that Pakistanis cannot watch an unidentified clip that is considered offensive to Islam. In the process, they made technical mistakes, and YouTube suffered a global blackout. Here are some reactions from the subcontinent.
Rashid Qureshi, the spokesman for Pervez Musharraf: We have every right to protect the [...]

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Chak de Railways, Says Lallu

Lallu Prasad Yadav picked a bollywood theme of his fifth Railway Budget. Chak de Railways, he exclaimed. In his presentation of the Union Railway Budget, he recited:

 
Sab kah rahe hain humne gazab kaam kiya hai,

Karoron ka munafa har ek shaam diya hai,

Phal salon yeh ab dega, paudha jo lagaya hai,

Sewa ka, samarpan ka, [...]

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BubbleBabble: Politician

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Cirque du Inde Called Jodhaa Akbar

If Emperor Akbar were to watch Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar, he would have said, “Wow man! What opulence, very impressive indeed.” And if Jodhaa and Akbar were to watch Jodhaa Akbar together, they would have definitely fallen in love with each other even if they did not back then. Jodhaa Bai would have told Jodhaa [...]

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Yes, Indians Can be Funny

I always bemoaned the lack of humor in Indian entertainment. I am sorry to say I grew out of Sardarji jokes early on in my life. Well, to be honest I was never into it. What passes as humor on Indian TV or cinema only makes me laugh in disbelief: they are just ridiculous. It [...]

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BubbleBabble: Emptiness

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The Joy of Bargaining

Bargain may be just a skill in most part of the world, but in India is an art form. It takes years of practice under the supervision of skillful masters, such as your experienced grandfather, your fast talking aunt, or your street smart uncle. What separates a mere skill from an art is the passion. [...]

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Matter of Birth and Death

What did you witness first: a birth or a death?People in our neighborhood had livestock: a few cows, a chicken coup, a small army of goats. There were always the string of stray dogs and cats. It was only natural that we witnessed animal birth on regular basis. All the children in the neighborhood would [...]

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Aging Cell Phones

Pinku, though an expert in SMS and smileys, had never seen a landline phone in her five long years of existence. On a rare visit to her grandfather’s house in a small Indian town, she was surprised when the old rotary phone rang.
“Mommy, mommy, what’s that big black thing?” She pointed to the phone.
“Oh, that [...]

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BubbleBabble: Beauty

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For the Love of Language

India may lack literacy, but not language. We are proud of our mother tongues. Name another country on this planet that has twenty-two official languages. We are not even counting the unofficial ones and dialects.

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Best of Booker

Salman Rushdie and Arunadhati Roy are competing with Yann Martel for The Best of the Booker. Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is neck to neck in the race with The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Rushdie won in 1981 and Martel in 2002. The Life of Pi is a fable of survival after a shipwreck (2002) [...]

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Politics in Pakistan

Dear H,
Since I wrote last email, primaries in US has heated up. Democratic race is tighter than ever: Hillary Clinton, the presumptive front runner, is now behind the new comer Obama. On the Republican side, McCain has all but captured the nomination. All other major players have dropped out steadily and silently. Of course, no [...]

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Lunar Eclipse Causes Lunacy

Indian science of eclipses is different that rest of the world. We believe that an eclipse is caused when Rahu and Ketu, the two invisible planets, swallow either the sun or the moon depending upon the time of the year. An eclipse in Sanskrit is called grahanam.
Life on the day of the eclipse is very [...]

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Superseding Superstition

For a while I have noticed that Devraj, my colleague at work, has a strange habit. He never picks up his cell at the first ring. He always waits until at least the third ring to pick it up. One day I could not help but ask him.”I know it is none of my business, [...]

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Morality in the Age of Mobile

I grew up with middle class morality - and mentality. You know the kind that teaches you to be honest and hard working so that you can get a clerical job at a corrupt business. The rallying cry was striving for mediocrity. Not excellence, not even success. Do not be so full of yourself. Have [...]

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Kuch Meetha Ho Jai

We are country of babbling billion. Of all organs, we use our mouth the most: we are either talking or eating. We speak different tongues, and our tongues have different taste buds. Indian life revolves around food; especially, Indians are never too full for some mithai! Every state, every town, every village has [...]

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