No ice cream for you and me

Did anyone see this poster at the new Haagen Dazs outlet in Delhi? Only "international passport holders" are allowed.

The image that immediately flashed before me was the scene from Mard where Amitabh takes down the bald British guy in the hotel pool for not allowing Indians and dogs. Of course, that movie was set in the early days of the East India Company.

At first I thought this adverisement was a hoax, but apparently it's genuine. What were they thinking?

Speaking properly

I'm going to have to make lingual adjustments to prepare for our UK move such as using fewer "Zs" (specialise instead of specialize), more "Us" (colour instead of color), and day before month in dates. If I can only undo everything I've picked up in the last twelve years, I will be fine.

I've already learnt new phrases as I surf UK websites and forums. My favorite so far - "bum bags" for "fanny packs".

Do others come to mind? After all, I want to speak properly.

Tiger Zoo

I can't remember for sure but I think the debate on prostitution (see post) followed a Tiger Woods conversation. As the Sports Guy notes in this hilarious column, the Tiger Woods (or Tiger Zoo) story is going to dominate holiday parties this season.

You will attend a holiday party this weekend. You will start talking about Tiger with one or two other people. A few others will drift over saying, "Are you talking about Tiger?" Within a few minutes, the circle will be eight-deep. Conspiracy theories will be flying as Elvis' "Blue Christmas" plays in the background. Somebody's girlfriend or wife will say, "If that ever happened with [my man], I'd go after him with a golf club." Everyone will laugh. Eventually, you will start talking about Obama or the Saints or something. And then an hour later? The same conversation will happen in another part of the room.

I had my fill last night, and hope not to have anymore.

Here are some fun quotes from Facebook -
Tiger woods has changed his name to cheetah woods (get it, cheetah = cheater)
He really needs to sprint from this one!
He has hit a birdy too many!
The only person who can beat Tiger with a golf club is his wife.
Tiger is now officially the greatest swinger in golf.
Might have been worse.. Tiger could have lost his putter.

What about Kamathipura?

The Indian Supreme court raises question about legalizing prostitution. Last night, we had an animated debate on this topic with the men in the group arguing for legalization and the women against it. Seems like an obvious alignment of views, but, interestingly, neither side was arguing on moral grounds, but rather on the practical implications of such a law.

My main issue is with the reasons given for legalization. Judges say that if you legalize prostitution "you can then monitor the trade, rehabilitate and provide medical aid to those involved."

Why isn't the rehabilitation and medical provision happening right now? When providing treatment do clinics ask how you contracted a disease and then deny treatment depending on the reason?

Given how policies are implemented in India, I don't see any clear benefits of legalization. Do you agree or disagree?

The Year in Ideas

Check out the Annual Year in Ideas - a collection of the most clever, important, silly and just plain weird innovations from all corners of the thinking world.

Some favorites -

Weapons of Mosquito Destruction - a futuristic laser-shield to protect against mosquito and other flying pests. Available soon for $10 at a store near you...

The Cul-de-Sac Ban - a new Virginia rule requires all new development to have a certain level of connectivity to other streets, which the city hopes will make it easier to service neighborhoods and prevent wasteful real estate development. Should make all urban planners happy.

Living Stories

Another good idea from Google labs, this time in collaboration with NYT and the Washington Post.

Living Stories - Complete coverage of an on-going story is gathered together and prioritized on one URL. You can now quickly navigate between news articles, opinion pieces and features without long waits for pages to load.

I've found it to be a useful way to follow the Copenhagen Conference, see Politics of Global Warming

Dreams from my Father

I just finished Obama's first book, Dreams from my Father. I didn't really enjoy it.

The book is supposed to be a "story of race and inheritance", so I expected race to be a central topic, but his use of race as the singular lens through which he evaluates all his interactions was surprising and disappointing.

It's true that he wrote the book when he was thirty-three, and it was written for a specific publishing purpose. So, I'm going to read Audacity of Hope next to see how and why his views evolve.

I welcome comments on whether you agree/disagree with my assessment. It's possible that I simply did not get it.

The myths of India and the West

Here is another excellent TED presentation. Devdutt Pattanaik, a Chief Belief Officer (I didn't know what that meant either), talks about the mythological belief systems of India and the West and how they affect the most basic aspects of our lives. Highly entertaining.

Sixth Sense

People are so smart. Here is a fantastic look at how technology can improve our interactions with the physical and digital worlds. The practical applications seem endless. Recommend watching it through the end. I also recommend checking out Pranav Mistry's other projects.



HT: Oza

America's Best Idea

We are in the beginning of a 11 day trip through four national parks in California - Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Sequoia and Yosemite. The trip is inspired partly by our upcoming US departure, and partly by this PBS series The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

The six episode series relays the rich history of the parks and the people who helped create them. The park system was created after many fights, and required much effort by park administrators and Washington insiders. Definitely worth watching. You might not want to watch the full series because it is slow at times, but you can watch the coverage on parks that interest you.

Other great resources include the National Park System and the GORP websites.

How to Write Badly Well

A brilliant new blog that tells you how to write well, by writing badly. Very funny, very British.

This "lesson" definitely applies to my writing -

Describe every character in minute detail, taking no account of narrative pacing

Terrence Handley shifted his weight, the weight that had been steadily increasing for the last ten years and showed no sign of diminishing, at least while his wife Marie continued to excel as she did at the design and production of delectable gourmet meat pies, and shuffled his feet restively as he waited. His feet had always been a source of irritation for him, imbued as they were with a mysterious capacity to ache seemingly independently of circumstances. This had been the case since the age of about ten, when he first noticed that his feet had a reluctance to settle in one position (or he supposed, two positions nearby one another) for any length of time before sending signals up the nerves that ran through his legs informing his brain that, if it was all very well, they’d rather not be set in the aforementioned position for too much longer. At last, the door opened.

If you are interested, there is a call-out to submit the worst writing you can muster.

JFK

Some rules in life should not be broken, and flying through JFK is one of them.

Only break the rule i) if you are willing to stand one and half hours in a check-in queue only to be told that you are in the wrong line because Dakar flights have a special check-in counter across the street, and ii) if you want to wait for 2 hours and 45 minutes in the immigration line.

In the last two years, I've spent on average two hours in immigration every time I enter the US. That's because I need to go through secondary screening due to the current stage of my green card process. Its frustrating especially since I've lived here for more than twelve years. That's a long time, almost half my life, but not long enough to legitimize my stay.

Most other passengers who were waiting with me were entering the US for the first time. They were consoled by the immigration officers that next time things would be faster. Unfortunately, they couldn't say the same for me.

The Obama scorecard

The head of the Nobel committee said that the peace prize was awarded based on who had done the the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world.

It seems the prize was more pf a strike against Bush's policies than an award for Obama's accomplishments. Watch this brilliant Saturday Night Live clip on Obama's scorecard. But then, he did win the prize for diplomacy, and diplomacy takes time.

Archie

It's confirmed - Archie's to marry Betty

I haven't read an Archie comic in years, but, in many ways it was my introduction to America. My brother and I used to borrow stacks from Shemaroo (the local library). Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys followed, but Archie was the first.

If you missed the wedding saga, check out the slide show.

The Sundarbans

I've been reading Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide and have learnt a lot about the Sundarbans and dolphins. The book superbly explores environmental and political issues through a combination of fact and fiction. It's my favorite Amitav Ghosh novel thus far, and I've really liked the others I've read. And, the Sundarbans have been added to my list of places-to-visit-before-destroyed.

Reading the book got me thinking about a comment made by a Bangladeshi friend on how Bangladesh experiences at least one natural disaster every year. Bangladesh is, in fact, considered the country most susceptible to climate change. Its feared that one third of its current land mass, supporting 20 million people, could go under water. Here is a rather depressing article on the full extent of the effects of climate change.