The Indian Magic Mango Trick

Last updated on: February 12, 2008 at 10:34 pm By Desh Kapoor

This is a very interesting picture set from "The Secret Museum of Mankind". I am not sure of the year of this picture - but it seems really old! The Asia section also has some interesting pictures from Andaman etc. Published in 1935, the Secret Museum is a mystery book. It has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers, no index. Published by "Manhattan House" and sold by "Metro Publications", both of New York, its "Five Volumes in One" was pure hype: it had never been released in any other form. Advertised as "World's Greatest Collection of Strange & Secret Photographs" and marketed mainly to overheated adolescents (see the 1942 Keen ad), it consists of nothing but photos and captions with no further exposition. Read more

Ignorance of Knowledge

Last updated on: February 12, 2008 at 8:34 pm By Desh Kapoor

Private Measures to mitigate foreclosure problems

Last updated on: February 12, 2008 at 5:44 pm By Desh Kapoor

As an update to my earlier post, I wanted to point out that Warren Buffett has offered to provide a second level of reinsurance to the bond insurers upto $800 billion. Also six mortgage lenders are teaming up with nonprofits to help avoid more foreclosures. This is very interesting. Irrespective of the Government but also the private members of the society are helping out in this bad time. Read more

Today's Song: Main Yeh Sochkar by Rafi

Last updated on: February 12, 2008 at 3:37 pm By Desh Kapoor

Main yeh sochkar from the movie "Haqeeqat" sung by Rafi (Music by Madan Mohan & lyrics by Kaifi Azmi) This song is always that quintessential song of the Army officer whose beloved broke his heart and he got separated. The hope and the pathos in this song is remarkable! It was sung by Rafi in a very sublime manner. The use of violin by the master music director in this song is also amazing as it gets to the core of your heart. This is another love song - albeit a sad one - that I really like a lot. Enjoy. With this entry the Today's song will be hosted on drishtikone server itself and made available through the audio module as esnips in not very reliable. Read more

Option ARMs, Bind Insurers, and the Mortgage mess

Last updated on: February 12, 2008 at 11:30 am By Desh Kapoor

Here is an interesting scenario: A person buys a house for $185,000 in 2006 and keeps paying his mortgage month after month. Now, in early 2008, he owes the bank - $192,000! What's wrong with this picture? Well he did a payment-option adjustable rate mortgage. He owes $1300 every month, but can send in $565 - the rest ($735) is added back to his total debt. When the debt reaches $212,000 or after 5 years, his monthly payment will rise to $2800 a month! He has an Option ARM. The rub: Once the option ARM loan balances reach a preset limit (negative amortization cap - ~ 110-120% of mortgage amount) their payment rates immediately increase. Of course, if he was a desi (Indian) he would have sold the house very early (or not even bought one) and gone to live in an apartment to start saving money. But that is a culture thing, maybe. There are about 1 million homeowners with a total owed money of $500 billion in option ARMs. These people are beyond the help that interest rate cuts from the Fed brings! Read more

ICICI denies credit card to a lawyer because of his profession

Last updated on: February 12, 2008 at 12:03 am By Desh Kapoor

Many people make fun of the lawyers but that is where most stop. Recently I have come to believe that the Indian Banking system is not only being governed and run by greedy people but those who are thoroughly unscrupulous. However, even I was not ready for this kind of shock. ICICI leadership apparently wears its hatred for the Indian lawyers on its sleeves.. or its rule books, as it were. It has been slapped a fine of Rs 1 million for discriminating against the Law profession! ICICI Bank again has been fined by the Delhi Consumer Commission of Rs 10-lakh and this time for not issuing credit card to a lawyer for a "negative profile" profession. OUchh! That almost places them in the category of criminals (maybe not) or even drug smugglers... but it is intriguing that the company which started the first Credit Rating agency in India for companies - CRISIL - has such rating inputs! Read more

Kiss: Its evolution and usefulness

Last updated on: February 11, 2008 at 9:31 pm By Desh Kapoor

Since we are in the global "love/romance" season until this weekend, here is something on that very loving act of kissing. An act which involves roughly 42% of our cranial nerves which are busy transporting nervous messages between lips, tongues (depending on the depth of the act), cheeks, nose, eyes (if they are open) and the brain. The muscles also play an important part - a total of thirty-four muscles working cooperatively. The most important being the orbicularis oris muscle, which is used to pucker the lips and informally known as the kissing muscle. As simple as an act it seems to be it affects the male and female in different ways. In a study where psychologists from Lafayette College were checking out the hormonal levels in couples after and before kissing, and had predicted an increase in oxytocin - which influences social recognition, male and female orgasm, and childbirth. Since females in the study had higher levels of intimacy in their relationships, they thought this hormone would hit them more. Naah. It was the males who scored higher on that front. Possible reason: females must require more than a kiss to feel emotionally connected or sexually excited during physical contact. Something like a romantic atmosphere. Read more

Last updated on: February 11, 2008 at 7:40 pm By Desh Kapoor

Personally, I think that love blossoms only when it knows no way of a return. When the hope of return in love is all lost then if you still love the other. its love. Read more

Unreal life of Reality Shows and the real life beyond them

Last updated on: February 11, 2008 at 7:23 pm By Desh Kapoor

Success requires hard-work and persistence. The reality shows on TV create a great platform for youngsters, but can these shows give them all glowing careers? Apparently some have cashed but not all. Everyone is on their own after the show and has to work hard. The fame and fervour that these participants and winners see during the show with millions voting for them evaporates very quickly into thin air! Then what? One set of reality shows that I have watched and followed with great interest is the musical ones. Fame Gurukul, Indian Idol, and the grand dad of them all Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. These shows do it all to boost their TRP ratings through tricks like: - fighting amongst the judges.. like Abhijeet and Bappi Lahiri; or Javed Akhtar and Annu Malik used to fight. This apparently creates interest amongst the viewers. - creating religious or national controversies - like Zee did in the Independence Day special with three Pakistani candidates in the danger zone for singing Pakistani national songs as opposed to Indian ones. First of all, its just vanity and foolhardiness to want people of another nation (even though we are so close) to sing our national songs, specially on a day when its their Independence Day as well! - create love triangles / love affairs - like Sumedha and Aneek Dhar - when nothing really is there. After the show however all these gimmicks go away. Then what? At that time the person is left alone with his/her music and urge to excel. The fact that you once got millions of sms votes does not give the bread on the table now. So, its back to the fight and struggle to succeed. It takes a lot of effort to succeed in the entertainment business. And ultimately those who have talent remain there for a long time. Just like in 1980's we have the horrendous set of singers like Mohd. Aziz and Shabbir Kumar burst on the scene and make a mince-meat of the entire music in Indian cinema. It took a person like Udit Narayan 8-9 years to break out in the open with QSQT. So, what is life after the winning and losing of a reality show? Read more

Last updated on: February 11, 2008 at 6:23 pm By

Love is Tolerance. Ghazala Khan The Pakistani Spectator http://www.pakspectator.com Read more