Indian crab joke - its not a joke.

From Karan Thapar's "Is Britain a racist country?" (Hindustan Times - Jan 27, 2007)

"There’s one other British quality worth recognising. They have great respect for individuality and, therefore, each individual’s privacy. The Brits love eccentrics. Whilst we in India strive for uniformity, they cultivate differences. We look askance at people who stand out of the crowd. They accept those who dress to attract attention. We squirm at unusual behavior, they see in it the stamp of character."

And the famous Indian crab joke that’s more than just a joke.

A man once went to a seafood restaurant and asked for crabs. The waiter rolled up a trolley lined with dishes. Whisking off the cover of the first he said, “These are Polynesian crabs.” Whisking off the next, he said, “These crabs are the finest Hawaiian.” Lifting the cover of the third with a flourish, he announced, “These are Australian crabs.” Coming to the last uncovered dish he said, “And these are Indian crabs.” At which, the diner said, “Why aren’t they covered like the rest?’ And the answer was, “Because when one tries to climb out, the others pull him back.”

This is a sad commentary on the mindset of modern India.

Why cricket is BIG in Australia?

Take a look at the area around Albert Park Lake, Melbourne.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps

I could count upto 16 cricket grounds (with proper pitch strips & grassy outfields) in this area. Such facilities for cricket. Amazing.

Australia is at the top of my 'places to visit' list.

It happens only in India!

* Found this unusual wikipedia entry!

Lal Bihari (or Lal Bihari Mritak) (born 1961) is a farmer from Uttar Pradesh, India who was officially dead from 1976 to 1994. He founded Mritak Sangh or the Association of the Dead in Uttar Pradesh, India. He fought Indian government bureaucracy for 18 years to prove that he is alive.

When Lal Bihari tried to apply for a bank loan in 1976, he found out that he was officially dead. His uncle had bribed a government official to register him as dead so he would get the ownership of Bihari's land.

Bihari discovered at least 100 other people in a similar situation, being officially dead. He formed Mritak Sangh in the Azamgarh district. He and many other members were in danger of being killed by those who had appropriated their property. Nowadays the association has over 20,000 members all over India. By 2004 they had managed to declare four of their members alive.

Over the years Bihari tried to attract attention to his situation by various means. He organized his own funeral and demanded widow's compensation for his wife. In 1980 he added the word "mritak" ("dead") to his name and signed his letters "late Lal Bihari". He stood for election against Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 and lost, to prove that he is alive. In 1994 he managed to have his official death annulled after a long legal struggle.

In 2004 he ran for a seat in the parliament of Lal Ganj.

Bihari continues to support other people in similar situations. In 2004 he sponsored fellow Mritak Sangh member Shivdutt Yadav when he contested election against Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Film-maker Satish Kaushik will be making a movie about his life, death, and life. Bihari was awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Award in 2003 for his considerable "posthumous" activities.

Some Linux/ OpenSource cartoons.

Thanks www.foxtrot.com.

Stunning landscape/sunset pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepres/with/340661207/

Suspect!

Note the expression on the newsreader's face. "The police have released a sketch of the suspect and uh...mm... uh..."

Cache & 3-Iron

Recently saw 2 movies that were totally non-mainstream.

Cache: French movie that totally got on my nerves - thats what the director intended, so its a good movie. The screenplay and the narrative were very different and some scenes - especially the ones where the camera is still for long time with no obvious focus of interest - were really interesting. The movie apparently has many levels of interpretation. It also challenges the perception of a movie/story ending with all questions answered, all threads tied up etc. If you get the DVD, don't forget to watch the interview with the Director.

3-Iron: I hardly ever pick movies from a shelf in the store without having an inkling about the movie, be it the actors, the director, the language(!). But the line that got me was on the DVD cover of this Korean movie: "The two main characters never say a word to one another". (The cover pic also caught my attention.) Well, the movie was a very sweet one. Was amazed that a story could be told so effectivelty without any dialogue. I don't think it would have made a difference if I hadn't turned the subtitles on.

Best of 2006 in Web 2.0

http://www.rojo.com/story/MmclY6SagQ2N0kSN

This article mentions quite a few sites in addition to the usual favorites of MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, Netvibes, zoho.com.

I love whats happening with Web 2.0, and there is still a lot of scope for innovation and new ideas. But personally I feel the space is getting crowded with too many similar services. It's like "Oh ... one more social networking thingie". I know competition is good and will get the best out of everyone. All the websites mentioned above are constantly improving their service, but ultimately there needs to be profitability for all the players in the market. Otherwise they cannot sustain their business. I feel in the next couple of years "something's gotta give" and we can separate the "men from the boys". My only fear is another dot-com bust like environment.

Extreme High Resolution Images

http://www.xrez.com/

Check out the gigapixel resolution images of Half Dome (Yosemite). The urban image of Boston is also amazing.

They'vs used 'photo stitching' and other such tricks to generate this high resolution images. I think, we may have cameras with gigapixel resolution in the near future.

Also, check out the time-lapse photography of sunrise/sunset. Its amazing.

PingPong ball in a glass.

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vitual bubblewrap

For people who love 'popping' the bubblewrap, herez some thing to keep you occupied.
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/stu/bubblewrap.swf