Police force Gibbs out of tour (The Guardian, UK)

Herschelle Gibbs has dropped out of South Africa's tour to India because of continued pressure from Indian police over his role in the 2000 match-fixing scandal. (See earlier entry on the topic.)

In other SA cricket related news, the team touring India next month with have Hashim Amla, the first player of Asian origin to be included in a South African Test squad.

Who Won India's Tug of War on Interest Rates? (Bloomberg.com)

A Bloomberg analysis on what RBI's recent increase of the repurchase rate means to the Indian economy. The RBI didn't change the 'bank rate', at which the central bank lends to commercial banks, and left it at a 31-year low of 6 percent.

Apprently, the RBI was under some pressure from the govt not to raise any interest rates. The article concludes that by raising a short-term rate that won't directly affect long-term interest rates the central bank esstablished its role as the one who makes the country's monetary policy.

Job fear misplaced: Satyam Chairman (National Post, Canada)

Ramalinga Raju the founder and chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. was in Toronto this week and tried to downplay the impact of outsourcing on Canadian companies and Canadians.

AMD Geode Personal Internet Communicator launched (TheInquirer.net)

Chip firm AMD said it has introduced its Geode based Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) in a cooperative deal with Indian giant Tata Indicom Broadband. ... The machine will be offered as a bundled device with Tata's broadband services and AMD said that it will offer a variety of ways to buy it for people with not very much money.

The suggested price for the PIC is $185 with a keyboard, mouse and pre-installed software, or $249 including a monitor, AMD says. But the local reseller will be able to sell it for a lower price.

The PIC runs on a Microsoft Windows-based operating system and is part of AMD's vision to provide 50 percent of the world's population with Internet access andcomputing Latest News about computing capabilities by 2015. AMD has dubbed this initiative the 50x15 program.

You can see photos of the device here and here.

Red Hat Releases 5 Indian Language Fonts (ChannelTimes)

Red Hat has announced the release of five Indian-language fonts as open source, licensed under the General Public License.

The fonts, named "Lohit", which means "Red" in Sanskrit, are available in five Indian languages namely, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Tamil. These fonts will be available with Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Red Hat has acquired these fonts from Automatic Control Equipments, Pune.

Another example of the work done to Indianise software.

Indian couple 'marry' siblings to outwit US immigration (siliconindia.com)

In a ludicrous move to outwit US immigration laws, an Indian American from Punjab 'married' his own sister while his wife 'married' his brother so that they could circumvent the 13-year waiting period necessary for siblings.

Paramjit Singh Taggar, 44, and his wife Harbans Kaur Hothi, 51, were found guilty of conspiracy, fraud and misuse of visas by a US district court in San Francisco, California.

Interestingly both the supposed husband and wife are now married, to different people. If that sounds too confusing (it is), please read the full article.

Vimala Raman crowned Miss India Australia (deepikaglobal.com)

Vimala Raman, a 22-year-old database analyst from Sydney, has been crowned this year's Miss India Australia.

She will represent Australia at the Miss India Worldwide pageant to be held in USA later this year.

Musharraf's Kashmir plan challenges press (BBC)

BBC's roundup of the reaction of Indian and Pakistani newspapers to Musharraf's Kashmir proposal. The proposal received mixed reaction in Pakistan but was uniformly rejected in all major Indian dailies.

Indian athletes enter big money league (Asia Times Online)

Sports people other than cricketers are now getting big money endorsement contracts.

A few examples:

• Every sponsorship deal that car racer Narain Karthikeyan - dubbed the fastest Indian on wheels - signs is valued at about Rs30 million (US$657,000).
  
• Hockey maverick Dhanraj Pillay made about Rs700,000 last year from endorsements, his share of the sponsorship of the Indian team and his sports columns.
  
• Soccer player Baichung Bhutia makes about Rs1.2 million every year. He is signed with sports-management company 9 yards, which also represents Wimbledon winner Leander Paes.
  

And sportspeople dabbling in lesser-known sports are also becoming a happy lot. Long jumper Anju B George recently became richer by Rs15 million.

Kashmir outlaws extravagant weddings (AFP via iafrica.com)

Residents in Indian Kashmir will face up to three years in jail for hosting extravagant weddings under new government regulations, officials said on Wednesday.

The restrictions are back in place after social organisations complained that poor families face undue burdens because they are expected to throw ostentatious weddings for their children.

BTW, these are not as bad as they sound. For example, the restriction means that the bride's parents will be limited to serving a total of 100 kilograms of mutton (emphasis mine) at their daughters' weddings and can invite no more than 200 guests, including 50 accompanying the groom. The groom's family will be allowed to another 100 kilograms of meat and up to 150 guests in their reception.

You have to wonder that if these are the 'restricted' weddings how wasteful and extravagant the regular weddings must be?

India festival may not cheer durable goods makers (Reuters via Daily Times)

The reasons:

Intense competition has depressed prices of everything from washing machines to refrigerators in India, dampening the spirits, and profits, of durable goods makers as they prepare for the busy festival season.

and

Korean and Chinese players, who face weak spending and high costs at home, are eager to grow in India, where less than 45 percent of homes own televisions and only a quarter have refrigerators.

Bodies stolen from graveyards in eastern India (Khaleej Times Online)

Human skeletons used in labs and hospitals are worth about $100-$150 each. Apparently there is also an (illegal) export market for them. Man, there is a market for everything!

This lucrative trade has resulted in bodies being stolen from burial grounds.

Bollywood film star shoots in Mauritius (l'express, Mauritius)

Mauritian view of a Bollywood film adapted from a local TV serial.

Durga Puja in Cologne, Germany

And a Hindustan Times report on how Muslim volunteers from Bangladesh are volunteering at the puja.

Koreans Will Taste Bollywood Masala (The Korea Times)

An opinion article in The Korea Times by an Indian on his experiences in Korea particularly those that relate to Bollywood. The most interesting part of the article is where the author says that most of the Indian movies he found in video stores were Rajnikath flicks. He then goes on to say:

This actor is tremendously popular in Japan too. During World Cup Soccer 2002, Rajanikanth provided much kicks for Japan that was playing co-host to the World Cup football. He was as popular as Beckam, Owen or Ronaldo there.

I wish he would have expanded on the 'provided much kicks for Japan' phrase.

(Previous entries on increasing popularity of Bollywood in Korea and on Korean backpackers visiting India in larger numbers

Indian Outsourcer Eyes Overseas Expansion (InformationWeek)

Satyam Computer Services Ltd. plans to open operational centers in Hungary and Brazil. The center in Hungary will allow Satyam to provide so-called near-shore services to European customers, while the Brazil facility will serve as a near-shore location for Satyam's U.S. customers.

India Growth Fund comes into being

Last week Kotak Mahindra announced the launch of India Growth Fund, a private equity fund, in partnership with SEAF Management LLC, USA.

The fund will primarily invest in dynamic and fast growing sectors like Life Sciences, Media and Entertainment, Specialised Retailing, Light Engineering, Information Technology and infrastructure related services such as Healthcare, Logistics and Distribution.

Mobile phones overtake fixed lines in India (Asia Times Online)

For the first time ever, the number of mobile connections in India have crossed fixed-line phones. At the end of September, there were 42.5 million mobile phone subscribers in India and 43.2 million fixed-line telephones. With almost 60,000 new mobile connections added daily, and accounting for the increase in fixed-line phones as well, Indian telecom observers had fixed October 18 as the D-day for mobiles overtaking landlines.

Classic case of tech leapfrogging!

Nation & World: India's low price, high-tech care draw "medical tourists" (Washington Post via The Seattle Times)

News story on the increasing number of 'medical tourists' (people who visit India primarily for a medical procedure). It tells the example of a carpenter from the US who chose to go to Delhi for his heart surgery because it was twenty times cheaper than getting it done in the US.

Eager to cash in on the trend, posh private hospitals are beginning to offer services tailored for foreign patients, such as airport pickup, Internet-equipped private rooms and package deals that combine, for example, tummy-tuck surgery with several nights in a maharajah's palace. Some hospitals are pushing treatment regimens that augment standard medicine with yoga and other forms of traditional Indian healing.

I wonder what happens if there are any post-surgery complications?

(Previous entry on the same subject)

Indian warship greets Japan with columns of smoke, alarming firefighters

The Indian Navy destroyer Ranvijay surprised Japan on Friday as it arrived for a goodwill visit billowing columns of white smoke in Tokyo Bay, alarming firefighters who rushed by boat to the scene.

The ship was just using its engines and apparently, the smoke is quite normal.

Hinglish is the pukka way to talk (The Times of London)

Hinglish is sweeping across the UK according to language expert Professor David Crystal. He cites the increasing popularity of Bollywood and increased interaction with Indians (due to outsourcing) as the reasons.

Several firms are using Hinglish including Ford which sells the Ikon car as the Josh Car - Hindi for exciting.

The Mirror's version of the article is named 'that-jungli-dacoit-with-opticals-took-a-stepney-from-my-josh-car-s-dicky
----that-uncouth-thief-with-spect-name_page.html' Ha!

Bollywood Eastenders Actor Blames Illegal Working on Lawyer (Scotsman.com)

The BBC dropped Dalip Tahil for a lead role in a serial because he didn't have the right kind of work visa. He is blaming his lawyer for the screw-up.

Bollywood finds sex sells in prudish India (Reuters)

Romancing in parks and running around trees has been replaced by romps in bathtubs and swimming pools, and playful wrestling in swimsuits on exotic beaches.

The new brazen movies may be "art imitating life" but I for one will miss the two-flowers-touching metaphors used in the oldies.

India Deports 'Bhopal Princess' For Overstaying (IndoLink)

The erstwhile princess of Bhopal (now a Pakistani citizen) was unceremoniously deported from India last week for a visa overstay violation. She, her husband and her two sons were forcibly made to board a Delhi-bound train. And before they had a chance to collect their passports from the High Commission in Delhi, they were en route to Lahore.

The local police say that they were following orders from the Home Ministry.

But people in Bhopal are puzzled about the haste and the secrecy of the action.

Delhi tastes 'slow food' revolution (BBC)

Carlos Petrini, the Italian founder of the 'slow food' movement that tries to counter the consumption of fast food worldwide, inaugurated Delhi's first 'slow food cafe' recently.

The 'slow food' movement began in Italy about 20 years ago and has now spread to 45 countries across five continents and has more than 80,000 members.

The article implies that slow food means organic food but that is not really the case. Slow food essentially tries to promote the local cuisine and the enjoyment of food as opposed to the fast-food drive-through culture.

Promoting 'slow food' in India won't be difficult because most Indian food is inherently 'slow' - complex to prepare and takes a while to cook.

Illegal telephony thrives in India (Asia Times Online)

The article looks at the cause and spread of telephony fraud in India.

Most of the fraud is done to avoid paying high fees to the land-line operators like MTNL and BSNL. But the article also touches upon the security aspect of setting up illegal exchanges.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) refuses to lower the fees that the private operators have to pay and this has led to increased illegal telephony as well as complex arrangements where even the legit operators find loopholes to avoid apying the fees. This fixed-line operators are supposed to use this fee to make telecom affordable to the poorer segments of the population.

The private operators argue that when a foreign carrier is not involved, they don't have to pay the fee (the TRAI rule requires the private carrier to pay the fee when three parties are involved - a foreign carrier, the private carrier and the fixed line operator). Both Reliance and Tatas have setup companies overseas so that they can originate the calls and avoid paying this charge. The fixed-line operators are, of course, arguing that they still need to be paid.

This is the reason why Reliance can offer rates as low as 11.9c per minute to India from the US. I wonder if they are still paying some fees because China Telecom offers 2c a minute calls to China and the reason is that they own both sides of the network. Now that Reliance and Tatas also own both ends, why can't they reduce their fees?

Thousands turn out for funeral of India's 'bandit king' (Channelnewsasia.com)

Thousands of curious onlookers gathered to watch the Veerappan's funeral.

The bandit had told journalists in interviews in his jungle hideouts that he had bribed politicians and police, and vowed to reveal full details if he was ever brought to trial. ... His family has however demanded an investigation into the bandit's slaying, alleging he was arrested earlier and then killed Monday. Special Task Force chief K. Vijay Kumar refused comment on the allegation.

This Guardian (UK) article has a more details on Veerappan and how he was killed.

Indian professionals wary of women (BigNewsNetwork)

Indian companies are training their engineers on interaction with foreign women so that the cultural differences don't lead to a misunderstanding and then to a lawsuit.

They are hiring consultants to teach foreign-bound employees how to interact with the opposite sex.

For example, we have many Indians who say, Can I make a move? when they mean they would like to take leave of someone. But if that is uttered in the US, to a lady, it could be taken for a sexual request, says Dholakia.

The consultant is over-stating the risk of that particular phrase but then that's what he is paid to do. There are certainly some differences between Indian English and American English but most of them result in a chuckle or a 'did you just say that?' reaction. A couple of the more common ones are using 'rubber' instead of 'eraser' and using 'fag' to mean a cigarette.

India softens on Xinjiang (Asia Times Online)

A very interesting article with in-depth analysis on the significance of a recent visit by the governer of China's Xinjiang province.

It was the first time in several decades that a leader from Xinjiang has visited India. One of the main reasons for the estrangement is the border dispute. Chinese maps show parts of J&K (Aksai Chin and Shaksgam Valley) as part of Xinjiang.

The recent thaw in relations seems to be due to the economic boom in Xinjiang and its of Xinjiang to resource-rich Central Asia.

The article also talks of the Chinese proposal of an "east-west swap" as a way to settle the border disputes. China has already recognised Sikkim as part of India and the article says that the idea of an "east west swap" is gaining favor in Delhi.

Curing what ails India's Hindu hardliners (Asia Times Online)

The author, an ambassador to various countries including Turkey, analyses BJP's political strategy and finds that it needs to reinvent itself. He suggests that the party learn from its recent failures and ditch its fundamentalist plank.

He explains how Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has managed to grow out of its Islamic roots and present a clean and caring image.

Lukewarm response for 'Bride' (AFP via The Star Online Malaysia)

"Bride & Prejudice" has received a poor response in India and analysts are calling it a commercial flop. The analysts think that "the script is outdated and does not suit urban India" and "Women, the main audience, have failed to identify with the movie".

The movie opens in the US on Dec 25.

Helen Clark hangs out with Bollywood stars (The New Zealand Herald)

The NZ government credits Rakesh Roshan's "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai" for the six-fold increase in Indian tourists to NZ.

The NZ PM began the Mumbai leg of her state visit to India by presenting a certificate thanking Hrithik Roshan, his co-star Amisha Patel and Mr Roshan's father and director of the film Rakesh Roshan for their contribution to New Zealand.

Daler Mehndi's "Shaa Ra Ra Ra" 2004 Tour

Over a dozen concerts (and almost just as many open slots) from Oct 30 (Wash DC) to Dec 11 (New Jersey).

Cognizant is Forbes best small company (Forbes.com)

Forbes magazine has ranked Nasdaq-listed IT services company, Cognizant Technology Solutions Inc, number one in its annual listing of 200 Best Small Companies for the second consecutive year.

The entire list is here.

This is the fifth time the New Jersey-based company, which has development centres in Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore, has been named in the list.

Earlier this year, BusinessWeek magazine had ranked Cognizant the number one information technology firm in its annual listing of Hot Growth Companies.

Two grand Indian families _ one political, one moviemaking _ and one public feud (AP via SFGate.com)

AP article on the recent public feuding between the Gandhis and the Bachchans.

The AP article says that then-PM Indira Gandhi reportedly gave Amitabh a letter of introduction to studio executives when he was trying to enter Bollywood. Haven't heard of that before.

The article also tries to explain the impact both families have had on India and Indian culture over the past few decades.

Indian Co. to Supply Beans to Starbucks (AP via Forbes.com)

Starbucks will buy beans from Tata Coffee making it the first time it will buy from an Indian coffee company.

Gilchrist leaves India (Sunday Times, Australia)

He is taking a break in Singapore before the next test. Other Aussies are going to Mumbai, Goa or Fisherman's Cove (near Chennai) to re-charge.

BTW, I didn't know that the series is being played for the 'Border-Gavaskar Trophy'

Vertu launches luxury mobiles in India (VoiceandData.com)

Vertu mobiles are now available in India from a few select outlets. They range in cost from Rs. 3.4 lakh to Rs. 17 lakh. Wowza!

Indian bandit 'killed by police' (BBC)

Tamil Nadu police are claiming to have killed Veerappan. Almost all the wire services (AP, Reuters etc.) have the details.

An AP article has the additional detail that "an associate of Veerappan had surrendered a few hours before the gunbattle and had led the police to the hideout".

PM's Indian mission falls in shadow of great Kiwis (New Zealand News)

Article talks of famous New Zealanders and their love for India. The top of the list is Sir Edmud Hillary who was NZ's High Commissioner to India but the previous PM David Lange is also an Indophile.

The article has an interesting story from the 1980s about Babu Gomez, a caretaker who was appointed to look after a plot in New Delhi that was supposed to house a new building for the NZ High Commission. The effort had stalled but Mr. Gomez was unaware and continued to do his job. Mr. Lange calls him "the only political sign of New Zealand's presence in India and he was living in a hut next to the pigs in a vacant field in the biggest democracy of the Commonwealth." When Mr. Gomez retired, Mr. Lange gave him "a rather substantial sum of money" to enable him to do so in some comfort.

Mr. Lange is quoted as saying, "there are more millionaires in India than there are people in New Zealand".

Postmen from India and China to become tourist attraction (Khaleej Times Online)

Indian and Chinese postmen near the border in Sikkim cross over into the other country to deliver mail once a week.

Indian postal authorities have asked the defence ministry for permission to make this unique postal exchange on the India-China border a "tourist event" that can be witnessed and photographed by civilians.

Church builds faith community thousands of miles from India (AP via Miami Herald)

Article on how a Syro Malabar church in Florida is helping Indians follow their own faith in the US.

Most of the approximately 3.5 million Syro Malabars worldwide are in India, with the majority in Kerala. They follow one of the five Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church and trace their history to the beginning of Catholicism.

The only Syro Malabar diocese outside of India was founded in Chicago in 2001, after the Vatican determined there was enough demand in North America. The leader of the diocese, the Most Rev. Jacob Angadiath, oversees parishes in Illinois, Texas, New York, California, Pennsylvania, Florida and Toronto, representing about 100,000 people.

Communists gamble on hi-tech future (BBC)

The BBC report finds it hard to reconcile the West Bengal government's Communisim with its love for IT and its plan to make West Bengal an IT hub.

One of the new developments is a four-lane highway connecting the airport to Salt Lake that bypasses Kolkata. A person going to Salt Lake from the airport is oblivious to all the problems in Calcutta.

As the article says, "West Bengal's communist government has taken some steps that might make even a staunch capitalist blanche."

Did an Indian miss this year's Nobel?

This is not from the foreign press but it is likely to be featured there over the next few days. The original PTI report has been featured in almost all the national newspapers and websites.

This year's Nobel prize for Chemistry went to 3 scientists who demonstrated the role of ubiquitin "inside" the cells.

12 years ago Krishnamoorthy Kannan, a protein chemist, had authored on ubiquitin's function outside the cells and how it could be used as a probe to seek out stem cells and separate them outside the body. His work did not get a lot of recognition and he could not continue the research due to a lack of funding.

The article says that Kannan may have missed sharing the Nobel due to this governmental oversight.

Soldiers from around the world head to India for field training (Channelnewsasia.com)

Apparently soldiers from around the world, including US commandos, are heading to an Indian training camp for field training in counter-insurgency and jungle warfare before being dispatched to the world's most troubled hotspots.

Letter: India's cricketing 'religion' (BBC)

Vinod Mehta, Editor of Outlook, on India's passion for cricket.

He theorizes

For some, cricket's appeal is based on the Brahamanical dislike for contact sports like football.

For others, cricket's appeal is based on Hindu India's relish for complexity, mystery and arcane laws in which cricket abounds.

and presents this fascinating information:

India, in fact, accounts for 80% of all money in international cricket and has a TV viewership that is 10 times the size of all other ICC member countries put together.

He also provides a lot of background on the recent BCCI elections and why they got so much attention.

India a dumping ground for Iraqi war junk (Asia Times Online)

Hidden in the huge consignments of looted machinery, shattered tanks, mangled building material, chopped-up railroad boxcars, machinery components, copper and aluminum ingots and bars, steel rods and water pipes imported by India from Iraq are live shells and ammunition.

Last month, one of the shells blew up in Ghaziabad (near New Delhi) killing 10 workers and injuring dozens more.

The army's bomb-disposal unit has started investigating the imported scrap and says that "the find so far in New Delhi and nearby towns alone can start a little war."

100s of shells and mortar rounds are being reovered from scrap yards across the country.

Little or no security in Iraq, no checks in intermediate countries like Iran and Dubai and no customs policy against unlicensed scrap import have all contributed to the problem.

The Indian government has started taking steps to stem the flow of this dangerous scrap.

Anand Patwardhan, the 'Michael Moore of India,' brings his hard-hitting documentary films to campus (UCBerkeley News)

Anand Patwardhan, the award-winning filmmaker from India will visit the University of California, Berkeley's Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Oct. 21-24 as part of "Documentary Voices," a project bringing international documentary-makers to the PFA as resident artists.

He will participate in Q&A discussion after the screening of his films.

The linked page also has an interview with him where he says that "[Michael Moore] is the best thing that has happened to America since (linguist and activist Noam) Chomsky."

Ex-India censor in legal action (BBC)

Anupam Kher who was removed as head of the censor board has filed a defamation notice against Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the CPI(M) leader who called him a Hindu right-winger.

Kher had banned the award-winning film 'Final Solution' that covers the Muslim-Hindu riots of 2002. He had refused to approve the film saying that it was "highly provocative and may trigger off unrest and communal violence".

He has been replaced with Sharmila Tagore.

Meanwhile, there is no news on the fate of 'Fahrenheit 9/11'.

UPDATE: According to this report,

The government said Kher had been replaced because he was unable to do justice to his job because of his preoccupation with film and theatre, the reports said.

Bollywood eyes Eshowe (Daily News, South Africa)

Bollywood teams have been scouting locations in South Africa for a movie called 'Gandhi, My Father'. According to a historian who is the film's historical adviser the movie looks at the often stormy relationship between Gandhi and his son, Harilal.

There is no information on whether they have optioned the new book on the same topic or if this is an independent effort.

Google co-founders mix business, pleasure in India (AP via KansasCity.com)

Google Inc.'s billionaire co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are touring India and are enjoying it. They have met with President A.P J. Abdul Kalam and have shopped in Delhi's Connaught Place. They may also find some time to hire people for Google's Indian brances.

India players carrying extra burden at home (Telegraph, UK)

Talks about how the Indian cricketers are under constant pressure from the media and the fans. Tendulkar, during his courtship days, apparently had to disguise himself to get away with his then-fiancee.

Ganguly adds that the challenge for the young 'uns like Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel is not the game itself but all the attention that comes with it.

The article compares Indian cricket mania with English football mania and contrasts it with the reaction - none - that English cricket players get when they venture out.

The Rediff Interview/John Kerry (rediff.com)

The final part of a three-part interview with John Kerry. He says all the right things about improving US-India relations, outsourcing etc.

Austin Film Festival - Hooray for Bollywood (The Austin-American Statesman, US)

This year's Austin Film Festival celebrates Bollywood with a three-film showcase. 'Company', 'Dil Chahta Hai' and 'Main Hoon Na' will be screened as part of the festival. Bollywood screenwriter Nayan Padrai and director Farhan Akhtar, (Dil Chanta Hai) will be part of the conference panels.

Musharraf calls for Kashmir status change (Reuters via swisspolitics.org)

On the fifth anniversary of his taking power in a bloodless coup, Musharraf re-iterated his plan to solve the Kashmir problem - "identify the region, demilitarise it and change its status". Last year he had suggested that Pakistan was not really interested in the mainly Hindu Jammu region or Buddhist Ladakh, but only in the
central Kashmir valley, the heart of a 15-year insurgency against Indian rule.

He also expressed annoyance at the endless series of meetings and talks that do not result in anything concrete.

Is India Facing Argentina-Like Debt Crisis? (Bloomberg.com)

Economist Nouriel Roubini of New York University had presented paper last year titled 'A Balance Sheet Crisis in India?' which warned that the Indian economy was heading towards an Argentina-like crisis.

He is somewhat more confident now and says that the new goverment has taken steps to fix this problem.

Other economists and fund managers too are confident that the PM and the Finance Minister, both economists, have the right skills to handle this problem before it becomes a crisis.

India gives a boost to its international relations (Xinhuanet, China)

The PM recently met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. He also had a brief stopover in London on his way to New York last month where he met British PM Tony Blair. And in New York he met with Bush as well as Mush.

He has a summit meeting with Putin and another with EU leaders before the end of the year.

Good!

India, U.S. Experts Discuss Cybersecurity (InformationWeek)

The US govt and industry want India to update laws governing electronic commerce, copyright protection and patents.

Good idea but India should be careful not to make the same mistakes as the US has when it comes to copyright and patents.

Indian indelible ink marker firm blames Afghan poll officials (Khaleej Times Online)

I have been looking for some explanation of the fraud claims in the Afghan poll since I knew that the indelible ink was supplied by an Indian company.

This article has an official from the company saying that the problem was probably due to ballot markers being used to mark the voters instead of the indelible markers. He says that the polls officials were inexperienced but the article doesn't address the possibility that this may have been deliberate.

The company, government-owned Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd (MPVL), has supplied ink markers for elections in Nepal, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam and company officials said they hadn’t received a single complaint in four decades.

Impressive!

Gilchrist touched by India's slums (7news, Australia)

Adam Gilchrist visited a slum in Madras as a new ambassador for World Vision. He also visited Mumbai brothels last year and was so moved that he found himself thinking of the people he had met while out in the field during a one-dayer.

Lee's Curry Was Just Grand (Sky, UK)

Lee Ryan, a UK star, paid £1,000 for an Indian takeaway dinner when he insisted that the chef bring the dishes around to his flat and reheat and serve them.

Cricket: Cycling great inspires India ahead of second Aussie Test (Channelnewsasia.com)

The Indian cricket team men watched a documentary on Lance Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer to win a record six Tour de France titles, ahead of the second Test which starts in Madras (aka Chennai) on Thursday.

Ganguly hopes the team can match his "determination and single-minded devotion to his sport".

British company launches Bollywood movie Shukriya (AsiansinMedia.org)

UK-based Inspired Movies released their second film 'Shukriya' last week. It stars Aftab Shivdasani, Shriya Saran, Anupam Kher and Rati Agnihotri.

The article doesn't make it clear if this is a UK-only release or a wider launch.

Film Review: Bride & Prejudice (Reuters)

The reviewer likes energy and the effervescence in the movie but not the acting.

India has seldom been portrayed as so ravishingly clean and gorgeous.

BTW, 'Bride and Prejudice' took £1.67m on its first weekend in UK and topped the box office.

Stomp Tokyo Video Reviews - The Indian Superman (1987) (StompTokyo.com)

If you read only one movie review this year, make it this one.

Apparently, there was a Bollywood version of Superman released in 1987 with Puneet Issar as Superman and Dharmendra as Jor-El. I wonder how I don't know about this one.

Imagine all the campiness of 80s movies and add in something as forced as an Indian Superman (in the original costume) and you will get an idea how bad this movie was. If you really want to know, read the review. And view the photo gallery.

[RIP, Christopher Reeve]

India Emerges as Innovation Hub (Wired News)

The news article starts off by saying that Indians have recently started innovating technologies specifically designed for the nation's multilingual masses. This ignores all the work done at C-DAC and IITs and other places over the past couple of decades in this very area.

What the article means is that now that India is recognized as a technical force and the research is being done in multinational companies and has better corporate support, it has more visibility.

It mentions a couple of interesting projects including automatic translation from English to a number of Indian languages and K-Yan, a PC+TV+Projector box meant for enabling group learning. I could do a whole entry on K-Yan and probably will sometime in the future.

India: What's in a name?

Excellent AP article on the name changing spree of the past decade and the effect it has had.

The article notes that people have always used Mumbai or Kolkata in the local languages and the name changes are usually driven by political agendas.

The Bombay Stock Exchange, Bombay Gymkhana club and the University of Madras also have retained the old names on grounds of tradition. When the Kerala city of Cochin was renamed Kochi, administrators at the Cochin University of Science and Technology kept the old name because they feared the school could be confused with Japan's Kochi University.

I have always been impressed at how the Bombay Municipal Corporation kept its initials but changed its name by using the 'B' for 'BrihanMumbai' (Greater Mumbai).

The senior editor of National Geographic Maps feels that maps of India will show both the old and the new names for a while. He cites the example of Istanbul/Constantinople which is depicted in maps with both names.

The article ends on a great note with Pramod Navalakar, leader of the right-wing Shiv Sena party that spearheaded the change to Mumbai, saying that the renaming may be getting out of hand. The example of the Laburnum street mentioned in the article proves his point.

He added with a chuckle, "Many a time I also say 'Bombay.'''

Malaysia and India cricketers are joint winners (The Star, Malayasia)

Malaysia and India were declared joint winners of the Under-16 Commonwealth Cricket Series when the final was washed out due to heavy rain.

India still waiting for the green light (Telegraph, UK)

Scathing article on the non-performance of the Indian cricket team in the first test against Australia. The article was written while the match was still being played (India lost the match by 217 runs) but the author pulls no punches.

Bangalore, [...] is a city where the traffic lights carry digital clocks counting down the seconds until they turn green. It would be useful if the home dressing room was equipped with a similar device, to tell us when India intend to make an entry in this series.

Ouch!

Dancing bears on verge of extinction (Stuff, New Zealand)

Reuters story on dancing bears and how increasing poaching has led to near-extinction.

The Kalandhars, a nomadic tribe, has been traditionally training these bears as street performers. These 'dancing bears' suffer a lot of pain during the training and through the rest of their performing lives.

Wildlife SOS, an animal rescue group, has set up a sanctuary in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, caring for about 60 of them. It has also convinced about 60 Kalandhars to surrender their bears for 50,000 rupees, which they have used to set up cold drink stalls and other small businesses.

But some Kalandhars say they will never give up the profession of their forefathers.

Even though the article describes some very cruel acts, this made me smile:

"We treat him like our child as he supports our family," says Abdul Nasser, thwacking Khan with a thick stick every so often.

Bollywood without borders: Foreign actors star in new generation of movies (The Arizona Republic)

Bollywood is attracting (and more importantly, accepting) foreigners to play lead roles. Ilene Hamann is the latest. She is a 20-year-old model from a tiny South African town who is the female lead in Mahesh Bhatt's 'Rog'.

The article also touches on the culture shock that these people experience while working in India.

Bollywood music calls up old memories (Xinhuanet, China)

Who knew that the Chinese were big fans of Bollywood too? The article reviews a show by the the Indian Modern - Classic Song & Dance Troupe and waxes nostalgic about the Bollywood memories the show triggered. The audience was apparently disappointed "that there were too many hotpants and not enough elegantly-draped saris."

[..] Chinese aged from their early 30s to their late 70s may fondly remember sitting in front of the black-and-white screen and humming along to the tunes found in films like "Awara Hoon" or "Noorie Noorie".

and

In hindsight, it seems amazing that at a time when pop culture was virtually non-existent in China, every Chinese had Indian film songs on the tip of their tongues.

The Iranian guy who cut my hair recently too reminisced about dancing to Bollywood numbers. He was particularly fond of Helen numbers, he said.

Indian Elephants Fight Losing Battle with Man (Reuters.com) [Also here]

Same old sad story - human sprawl encroaches into elephant habitat leading elephants to stray in villages. The increasing ivory trade only makes matters worse.

Another Reuters news article tells the story of Dinesh Choudhury, an elephant 'saver' who tries to intervene in man-elephant conflicts and attempts to save the elephant from getting killed.

Depp Set for Adventure in 'Shantaram' (Reuters.com)

Johnny Depp will play the narrator in a film based on Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram: A Novel," which is scheduled for publication next week. He will play the young Australian man who escapes from a prison Down Under and builds a new life in the slums of India before going to fight with insurgents in their struggle against the Russians in Afghanistan.

Roberts will adapt the book, which is set in the 1980s.

The novel is autobiographical and tells the story of a 10-year period in Robert's life where he escaped a maximum security prison and travelled to Bombay where he established a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers. Sounds like a fascinating book! (Review )

Ancient Indian games to be showcased in New York (siliconindia.com)

At the "Asian Games: The Art of Contest" exhibition that opens at the Asia Society in New York City on Oct 14, several ancient Indian games that depended on memory and skill will be showcased.

The exhibition will have over 200 works of art and examples of game sets dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century.

Drivers set of [sic] on India's toughest mountain rally (Daily Times, Pakistan)

The 1700 km long Raid-de-Himalaya rally was flagged off today from Shimla. The rally has been held annually since 1999.

Actress-director Revathi is participating in the rally though is isn't clear if she would go the whole gruelling way that includes a stretch under sub-zero temperature.

Business Report - Pepsi faces child labour lawsuit over ad (AFP via Business Report, South Africa)

A Pepsi ad shows the Indian cricket team in a huddle celebrating the fall of a wicket when a child carrying a tray of Pepsi pops up from an underground tunnel.

A rights activist filed suit alleging the commercial shows child labour and a court in Hyderabad has ordered that the ad be taken off the air.

China and India supply the demand (Asia Times Online)

A UN report says that China and India will be big markets for commodities like cotton, rice, coffee, cocoa, palm oil and rubber. This will translate into great trade for developing countries that produce them.

A $100 increase in the per capita income of these two countries (representing a 10% rise in China and 20% for India) would translate into about $230 billion in additional demand for commodities.

Andhra man to referee Bush-Kerry tie (siliconindia.com)

The title of the article doesn't make any sense but the gist is that K J Rao, an adviser with the Election Commission of India, will be one of the international observers for the US presidential elections.

Fate of Kashmir? (Media Monitors Network (MMN))

A supposedly intellectual look at the Kashmir issue from a Pakistani journalist goes down the same well-tread path filled with tired old rhetoric: India should stop 'state terrorism', the US should intervene, yadda yadda yadda.

I wish the article had talked about ways to break the stalemate rather than repeat what we have been hearing for the past 6 decades.

Miss India USA Pageant Announces Winner (FashionGates)

21-year-old Bihar-born Reshoo Pande is Miss India-USA 2004. The contest was organized by New York City-based Indian Federation Committee as part of its annual "India Festival" in New Jersey on October 2.

She will represent USA at the Miss India Worldwide pageant scheduled to take place in Mumbai on January 9, 2005.

Reuters to make Bangalore biggest information hub (Reuters)

Financial news and information provider Reuters says it plans to make Bangalore its biggest information-gathering hub, employing up to 1,500 people, or 10 percent of its total workforce.

Indian Giants Pump Rs 5 Cr Into Penguin Breeding (CXOtoday)

The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), IIT Bombay and IBM India, yesterday signed a co-operation agreement to setup an Open Source Software Resource Center (OSSRC) at IIT.

The move is an attempt to create an ecosystem to push the open source software development nationwide. Other academic and research institutes in the country are expected to be a part of the initiative once the framework is set up.

Is your job moving to India? Get used to it (Bloomberg News via IHT)

Apparently people in Mumbai were surprised and relieved to see that outsourcing and India didn't come up during the first US Presidential debate.

Well, the reason is that the debate was supposed to focus on foreign policy and homeland security.
Look for outsourcing and US job loss to feature in the next debate.

Anyway, the article says that Kerry can't keep up his anti-outsourcing rhetoric for long. In the meantime, Indian companies and the govt should try to diffuse the negativity associated with outsourcing. The companies are already doing this by setting up local (i.e. foreign) subsidiaries.

This NYTimes Op-Ed article analysed the recent job losses in the US and concluded that far more jobs were lost due to improvements in technology than due to outsourcing. (The article is now in the 'for-pay archives)

India adds spice to emerging markets (Telegraph, UK)

A look at how UK investors can benefit from India's rising economy. The article lists a number of funds that are investing in India. It also cautions that the Indian economy is somewhat volatile and any investment should be considered high-risk.

Employability Project: Lafarge India (World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD))

Case study of a project that aims to reduce rural unemployment by training youths for the construction market.

Lafarge, a world leader in building materials, is providing professional training to rural youths as masons and helping them gain employment in the construction sector.

The first training course in a village near Jamshedpur has been a success with the successful candidates finding gainful employment with Lafarge customers.

Lafarge is discussing how to extend this program to its other plants.

This project is a win-win venture: young people got technical training and a job and Lafarge got a trained workforce and a positive corporate image. Other companies should follow Lafarge's example.

Korean Backpackers Discover Charm of India (The Korea Times)

Korean tourists to India have been steadily increasing for the past few years.

A unique feature for Seoul-based agencies that target India as their main tourism destination is that they sell a "group backpacking" service. Usually they send a team of up to 25 people with a leader, a Korean travel guide hired to the agency who has years of experience traveling in the region and is well-acquainted with local services and prices.

Many Koreans who visit India as a part of these groups return on their own.

BMW mulls how to enter the Indian market (FxStreet.com)

BMW has set up a team to develop a strategy on ways to enter the Indian market, such as setting up a distribution company or entering into a partnership with other companies. The the study will also analyse whether the company has to set up a local production facility.

BMW has sold 75 cars this year through three independent dealers.

South Korean steel giant to invest 8.4 billion dollars in India (Servihoo.com)

South Korean steel giant POSCO is to invest 8.4 billion dollars in setting up a steel plant in India with annual output capacity of 10 million tonnes. POSCO is the world's fifth-largest steelmaker.

Chino Hills rejects Hindu sect temple proposal as too large (AP via Mercury News)

The city council for Chino Hills in southern California rejected by a 4-1 vote a proposed zoning change to allow the Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) group to build a temple. The opponents claimed that the temple complex was too large and would generate excessive traffic. There were other less charitable comments too.

Officials with BAPS plan to meet with city staff to discuss possible modifications to their project.

Another article on this topic

India to outsource tourism offices (Asia Times Online)

The tourism ministry will contract out the management of tourism promotion offices abroad to private agencies. The ministry can't keep up with the increasing demand from foreign tourists.

The article mentions a possibility of using Indian businesses abroad (restaurants, for example) to promote tourism. If implemented, this is a very good idea. All the ministry needs to do is place some official brochures and posters in Indian restaurants and stores and they will be marketing to a large foreign audience.

Intikhab breaks new ground (BBC) [Thanks to Sanjeev for the link]

The Punjab Cricket Association has decided to hire Pakistan's former captain Intikhab Alam as team manager.

This is the first time that a Pakistani will be coaching any sporting team in India, the Government having taken the unprecedented step of granting an unrestricted visa to Initkhab.

This story from PakTribune says that he has had a generally positive response from the Pakistani cricketing establishment contrasting this with the controversy when Wasim Akram informally coached Indian bowlers. I didn't know about the Akram news. Interesting bit of info there.

One more Indian city added to Changi airport's network: Amritsar (Travel Daily News)

Singapore Changi Airport has improved its connectivity with India further by adding a new link to Amritsar. Singapore is now connected to eleven cities in India by five airlines.

The new service between Singapore and Amritsar is operated by Singapore Airlines.

INDIA: Censors lukewarm to 'Fahrenheit 9/11' (ToI via Asia Pacific Media Network)

The censor board has held up the clearance of "Fahrenheit 9/11", Michael Moore's controversial documentary. It was scheduled to be released on Oct 15th. It has now been referred to a revising committee for its opinion.

One suggested reason is that the censor board wants to avoid offending the American authorities.

W T F?

The film has been running in the US for over 3 months without any problem and the Indian censor board was to review it before release? What are they thinking?

This is the same illiogical thought process that led the censor board to bleep out 'Mujahideen' in a Bond film (The Living Daylights) to avoid offending the then Afghan government. It was ridiculous then and it is even more ridiculous now.

FBI offer for India's north-east (BBC)

In a letter to Assam's CM, the US ambassador to India has offered the services of the FBI to investigate last weekend's bomb blasts.

Why didn't he write/talk to the Home Minister first?

Lose yourself in India (This is Travel, a UK site)

Promotional brochure for a package tour to 'Ananda Spa' - a health resort on the grounds of Maharaja Tehri-Garhwal's beautiful palace.

The description of the location and services at the spa is very vivid and very tempting.

Gurinder Chadha's much-discussed 'Bride and Prejudice' has its London premiere tonight. There will be many reviews tomorrow but here are three articles about the director and her effort to make a fusion film.

Pride and Prejudice Given Indian Flavour (Scotsman.com News)

Austen's Powers (Sunday Herald)

Bollywood Austen film's UK debut (BBC)

Bachelor? 'Buy' a wife @ Rs 50 mn (MSN India)

News story about the tradition in some communities in north Gujarat where the brother and sister of one family are married to the sister and brother of another family. Households with only sons are stuck and have to 'purchase' a bride.

The increasing incidence of female foeticide will make this problem even worse.

This dilemma is an interesting counterpoint to the
problem of dowry.

Q&A: India's violent north-east (BBC)

BBC's Q & A on the troubled history of north-east India.

Chaebol Thrive on Indian Economy (The Korea Times)

Three big South Korean companies - Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics - have made a combined investment of $900 million in India. Such investments has made South Korea the fifth largest investor in India.

'Bollywood' Set to Enter Limelight in Korea (The Korea Times)

20- and 30-somethings South Koreans are increasingly interested in Bollywood and what it has to offer. Not just the content of the movies but how the Korean film industry can learn from it. The South Koreans apprecuate how Bollywood has managed to retain its popularity in the face of Hollywood movies and also how it unites the Indian diaspora.

There is also an Indian Movie Lovers group.

The "Maximum City": Bombay, exposed (Seattle Times)

Review of Suketu Mehta's book ""Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found". The book is "the ultimate insider's view of Bombay, a roiling and vigorous account" of life in the city.

The book covers a number of topics - from firsthand accounts of the 1992-93 Hindu-Muslim riots to extreme asceticism of the Jain religious sect.

The author has managed to extract extraordinary confessions from hitmen and rioters with promises to include their stories in movies (he is a screenwriter for the film "Mission Kashmir").

The book sounds like a good read.

Monkeys oust melodrama as India dominates green Oscars (Guardian, UK)

Six Indian films have made the shortlist at the prestigious biennial Wildscreen wildlife film festival and Panda Awards, dubbed the 'green Oscars'.

Mike Pandey, one of the country's most revered natural history documentary makers, is up for an individual campaigner award. He made his name in 2000 with a film on whale-shark hunting which persuaded first the Indian government and then the international community to outlaw it.

The Indian film-makers still face a lot of challenges including the lack of dedicated wildlife slots on Doordarshan and the lack of financial support from foreign channels.

Warne's diet to send India nuts (The Australian)

He likes vegemite on naan? Must try marmite on naan sometime soon and see how weird his tastes are.

Bollywood goddess waxes beautiful (BBC)

Aishwarya Rai's wax replica was unveiled at Madame Tussauds famous wax museum today. The statue is on the right, btw,

Onstage, a team of dancers advertised Madame Tussauds special attraction - Bollywood dance workshops for visitors.

The wax museum is the latest business - after London department store Harrods - to cash in on a craze for the Indian film genre.

Seems like the Brits have gone Bollywood crazy. (See previous entry about classes for aspiring starlets in Surrey)

Indian troops mark China festival (BBC)

Fifty Indian troops, some with their families, travelled to a remote outpost on China's disputed Himalayan border with India's Arunachal Pradesh state to celebrate China's National Day on Oct 1st.

About 50 Chinese military officials and soldiers, again some with families, had travelled to the Bumla Pass, close to the Chinese outpost, for Indian Independence Day on 15 August.

Earlier this year China recognised Sikkim as Indian territory. It has not yet accepted Arunachal Pradesh but these incidents will certainly help.

Traditionally Rich Indian 18 year old girl looking for marriage

Saw this very interesting post on the Dallas Craigslist site. Certainly an ad for the site mentioned in the post. But what an ad! The site marketeers are getting really creative.

The post will be deleted in a few days so am copying it here:

Traditionally Rich Indian 18 year old girl looking for marriage

I'm an 18 year old girl from a traditionally rich family in India. My family is orthodox and wish to marry me off to another extremely rich cousin. But I'm against the aliance. My family is very strict, but has allowed me a vacation to a place of my choice with a couple of my friends from school. This is my only chance to find someone of my choice. I do not need economical support. I'll come into a large inheritance of a great grand uncle when I'm 20. But all this money is of no use if I'm married off!
KIndly advice me on some place I can travel to... where I can meet you.
I've put up my profile on www.find.....friends.com [URL modified]
my user id is shaila1986

India's performing arts take center stage in four-day fest (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, US)

UTSAV, a Festival of Indian Performing Arts, will open next Thursday night at the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park.

The four-day festival, co-sponsored by two local Indian presenting groups, Ragamala and Pratidhwani, also a performing ensemble, is dedicated to Indian artists -- primarily musicians and dancers -- who live in the Seattle area.

Immigrant bride jailed (Edmonton Sun, Canada)

Karmjeet Kaur Parmar was sentenced to 4 months in jail for lying on her immigration application. She had married Satnam Parmar, a Canadian citizen, to settle in Canada and to bring her family in Canada.

This was the first such conviction in Canada. "It's not because it's not happening, it's just very difficult to investigate." says the investigating constable.

Wal-Mart sets up arm in India (siliconindia.com)

Wal-Mart currently imports goods worth $12 billion from China and $1 billion from India. It has set up a wholly owned subsidiary in India to expand their sources and to reduce their dependance on China.

This is good news for Indian manufacturers. And the retailers can rest till Wal-Mart starts launching their big-box stores in India.

India mulls tough ID rules for cybercafes (The Register, UK)

Karnataka and Maharashtra are close to passing laws that would require cybercafes to screen their users. The goal is to fight cybercrime but many cybercafe owners feel that it would only result in loss of business.