Smoking kills.. but like this??

Last updated on: July 22, 2008 at 4:36 am By Desh Kapoor

Two guys were smoking. They blew smoke on a guy standing near them. Very un-civil of them and lack of basic manners. But what followed is unimaginable. And that too in Chennai! The fall-out included: - One smoker dead and the other in very serious condition - crowd rampage by relatives of the killed leaving 12 scooters, 3 auto-rickshaws and some streetlights damaged! Now, if I was the owner of one of those 3 auto-rickshaws - who has a hand to mouth existence, what would be my situation tonight? And worse still, what wrong would I have committed? Read more

India from the eyes of Western Expats

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 8:44 pm By Desh Kapoor

Saw this interesting post Shantanu Ghosh's blog on blogs by expats living in India - from Europe and US. Their perspectives - though cliched at times can be humorous and interesting! I spent some time going through these blogs.. you may like them too: Delhi Struggle: by a couple from New York and living in South Delhi (Green Park). I found their take pretty interesting, although it is cliched at times. As they say in the "About" page that living in Delhi has its insanity - I guess it is true for anyone who comes from outside. It takes time to learn that in India there is a language behind this chaos.. a method in the madness that once you learn, its very easy to live then! Anyways, I would recommend this blog. Michael's India: This is a blog by an expat who works for Target Corp. Target has a fairly big hiring for India and has some operation over there. His location is Bangalore and I guess the best thing about his blog are his pictures. He seems to like kids and gets them pretty well in his camera! I liked his Rama Naumi post. Touching that he went to Raghu's village to celebrate the festival there. Snidknits: Is a blog by Cindy who lives in Bangalore and likes knitting. She again does a good job of taking some interesting pictures.. and displays her knitting acumen fairly well. I liked her blogs as well. She has very interesting post on her visit to Hampi and the experience of travelling on Indian train on an RAC! Cindy's husband Bryan also writes a blog and has even more pictures 😉 and this is his post on their visit to Hampi. Loud Americans: yet another blog by an American. She also seems to be related to Target Corp. She explains how her kids are learning Hindi along with other local languages (Tamil and Kannada). Again, very readable blog. Read more

Dacoit Tourism: yet another Tourism Innovation from Rajasthan

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 7:55 pm By Desh Kapoor

Rajasthan has an amazing past - of Rajput kings and Maharajas. Its princes have used that history well. The Palace on Wheels, and the Heritage Hotels are great ways in which the history has been well preserved and yet been presented for tourism to make money for the present generation! Now, comes the idea which is as original as they come! Along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan is also known for dacoits. So, what better way than to have the tourist go through "Dacoit Experience"! I mean one can see those places where they lived - there aren't as many dacoits left now - and how they functioned etc. Only a few of those breed are left so one can watch their life up close. But wait.. better still if the tourist gets a GUIDED TOUR by a real dacoit! That would be a real experience! The department is mulling a proposal to allow tourists to interact with surrendered bandit kings and queens of the Chambal river valley. To begin with, tourists will be taken to dacoit-infested districts such as Dhaulpur, Bharatpur and Karauli. Former dacoits like Roop Singh, Madho Singh and Bhanwar Singh have welcomed the move, saying that it will help them merge with the mainstream. "If meeting with tourists can help create jobs, I am all for it," says Roop Singh. "The very idea of having the morning cuppa with a bandit on the banks of the Chambal will appeal to tourists," says a travel agent. However, some tour operators are wary of the risk involved. But a tourism ministry official allayed their doubts. "We'll make the process completely safe. Morning cuppa with a dacoit in his local hideout. Now THAT is what I call Innovation in Tourism! Abuses for backdrop "music", with bullets flying around for entertainment? Well, it wont be as exciting, but at least its a good way to give employment to the newly surrendered bandits and help them earn money in their new avataar. Read more

Where there is possibility of pain, there is no love

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 1:56 pm By Desh Kapoor

The questioner wants to know how he can act freely and without self-repression when he knows his action must hurt those he loves. You know, to love is to be free - both parties are free. Where there is the possibility of pain, where there is the possibility of suffering in love, it is not love, it is merely a subtle form of possession, of acquisitiveness. If you love, really love someone, there is no possibility of giving him pain when you do something that you think is right. It is only when you want that person to do what you desire or he wants you to do what he desires, that there is pain. Read more

Dishonest Seekers and "Knowledgable Masters" of the unknow-able

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 12:14 am By Desh Kapoor

Why do we seek? More importantly, do we seek to get an answer or do we seek to find out? Aren't religions a quick-fix for seeker's desires? We seek but our seeking is so shallow and dishonest that we want to catch the next guy who can confidently say "I Know"! Now, I am not saying whether that person who claims he knows actually has gone through it himself or not, but can he or she even begin to explain it to the other? Can he take the seeking of a seeker to its ultimate end? Or does the "knower" merely give the seeker a pacifier to suck on and stop looking on. There is no dearth of seekers in this world. Everyone is a seeker. But all the seekers are in a hurry. It is as if they are gasping in a sea and want to hold on to any rock that comes along. And whether it is a pebble or a rock they come across the seeker stands right there and claims the shore has been reached! It is a great game of pretense. Or make believe. For one Buddha, or a Nanak.. who didn't stop at any rock in this sea.. there are millions and millions of seekers who are stranded in the sea and will remain so. Bobbing up and down in the sea, alternating between sorrow and momentary happiness, are swarms of people who have not only keep deceiving themselves but also beckon others to their choicest deception. Ask any intellectual about the ultimate truth - and it is said.. "It is". If it really "IS" how can it be seeked? There is nothing to be seeked which can possibly end in something knowable.. or something that has been known. If a known "Truth" really existed then it would have been Universal - not varying in every book or preacher's address or place of worship. More importantly, that known Truth would have set everyone free. Read more

Outsourced – interesting looking movie..

Last updated on: July 20, 2008 at 8:11 am By Desh Kapoor

Saw this site for a new upcoming movie "Outsourced". IT has some trailers and snippets from the movie. A lot of it looks cliched but some of the scenes are just hillarious. In this scene - the last part where the kid gets up and... ... is the most hillarious! You can enjoy too.... Read more

Men give in to sexual temptation easier than women

Last updated on: July 20, 2008 at 1:44 am By Desh Kapoor

Image via WikipediaA research study from Montreal, Canada's McGill University claims that men give into sexual temptation easier than women. And men are vulnerable to flirtatious advances of a hot female even when they are married, while married women see advances of single men as a danger sign and resist the temptation. The report also seems to give a plan for married men on how to resist a good-looking temptress. The study researchers thought that the difference maybe because men thought that single women flirts may be less of a danger to their relationships - a feeling not shared among married women. I guess it shows why all the religions of the world - all started by men - have such an aversion to sex! Because the fountainheads of these religions must have thought that if their flock (herds these religious groups are anyways) gave in to sexual temptation, then they may not have any flock at all to beat into an alley! Its easier to herd a bunch of obeying idiots than risk-taking bohemian guys! 🙂 If the religions, on the other hand, had been started by women, they may not even have thought of this thing, for they would have taken it as a given! And btw, while I am on it.. why hasn't a SINGLE religion not been started by a woman? Can't they fire people's imagination up or get their voices across? Judging from how women behave as wives, that is highly unlikely 🙂 Any ideas why? Read more

IXiGO, authorSTREAM, and WiziQ: three innovative sites from India

Last updated on: July 20, 2008 at 1:08 am By Desh Kapoor

An article from The Hindu talks about three web tools that have come out from India which are created for the world audience! All these tools are very interesting and useful. I had known about one of these but had no idea they came from India. One interesting thing - two are Chandigarh based! Of course there is another site Instablogs - which is entirely created and managed from Shimla, HP. Which shows that innovation does not always come from the larger cities and India's next innovations may be coming from smaller towns - "B" or "C" grade cities as they are known! IXiGO: This is a search engine for travel in India created by a company in Gurgaon. It was created just one year ago by a small group of IIT and management graduates. They extended it and now claim it is India’s biggest hotel search service, encompassing over 6,000 establishments, across 400 Indian towns; trawling 40 of the best hotel and hostel price comparison sites. Among the bigger Web resources covered are the Travelguru hotel network; Inasra, a Chennai-based aggregator and HostelWorld, a specialist who concentrates on budget accommodation favoured by international ‘back packers’ and students. It is quite like Indeed.com - the job search engine which trawls many job search sites around the US. I think this concept of trawlers of sites is a great and useful one - kind of parasitic.. but very useful for the users. 🙂 authorSTREAM: This is a site created by a person in Chandigarh, Umesh Sharma - a computer science and mass communications graduate. It is a site to help share powerpoints with voice and effects. It is very much like slideshare but it makes the combination of voice and effects with powerpoint decks easier to handle. You can share the uploaded decks on your blogs or websites. Read more

Best career options for recession

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 5:42 pm By Desh Kapoor

Jobfox did a study from Nov 2007 and July 2008 to find 20 professions where demand remained high over economically rough periods. The top five are: 1. Sales Representative 2. Software Design/Development 3. Nursing 4. Accounting & Finance Executive 5. Accounting Staff The problem with this study is that it takes a period that is nowhere close to what is anticipated in the coming future! The future will be very grim from the way things are shaping up! Even the larger banking and financial institutions are falling down.. the oil prices are not giving any respite and the consumption seems to be still going up. In fact fall in consumption could accelerate the recession.. but consistent consumption could further worsen the oil prices and definitely hurt the deficits of US! So, its a situation of being between a rock and a hard place! John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas discusses with Yahoo-Hotjobs the careers in certain industries which have the best chance of withstanding the recession. Read more

Effect of $200/barrel Oil on Daily life?

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 5:25 pm By Desh Kapoor

Image via WikipediaThe July 21st Newsweek had a very interesting graphic. It shows how will different things get affected if and when the price of Crude reaches $200/barrel. It is very informative. I am pretty sure that the effect on Indian life will be pretty similar as well... although the Government somehow shields some of the people from the effects of rise in oil price through price limit on sale of petrol and the petrol pumps.. something that doesn't happen in the US. Read more