Growing Middle Class

Are countries like China, India and Brazil getting stronger? Here are two shows from TVO's The Agenda that gives us a better idea of where the world might be going in the next decades.





I would have to take the side not really believing that the middle class is growing or will make much difference in China or India. The levels are so low. It's not really fair to call the middle class in China the biggest in the world compared to countries like US and Canada when the a person making $2 a day can be considered middle class. The countries are growing but the people there are still just hanging on. China is growing at 9% a year and a person may have gotten a raise from $4000 a year to $5000 a year but unless that growth continues year after year after year, the so-called middle class will get very restless and demand more and more from the communist authoritarian government.

Dehli 2010: XIX Commonwealth Games

Absolute disaster! It's sad but every bad stereotype about India is being shown for the world to see. Corruption is clear as the games have gone over budget, the athletes village is filthy. Terrorist attacks, bridges collapsing, holes in roofs, bad roads on and on.

You hear racist things about India all the time, this doesn't help.



That ladder doesn't look very safe!



Just embarrassing.

If you were in Vancouver earlier this year, be proud. Those Olympics were amazing!

The Best Cheesy Action Scene You'll see Today ..... or EVER!

The ultimate movie scene of India. This is a scene from the most expensive telegu movie Magadheera!! :D

It's JUST a little over the top!

Man claims he ate, drank nothing for 70 years

Source: Telegraph

Prahlad Jani is being held in isolation in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gurjarat, where he is being closely monitored by India's defence research organization, who believe he may have a genuine quality which could help save lives.

He has now spent six days without food or water under strict observation and doctors say his body has not yet shown any adverse effects from hunger or dehydration.

Mr Jani, who claims to have left home aged seven and lived as a wandering sadhu or holy man in Rajasthan, is regarded as a 'breatharian' who can live on a 'spiritual life-force' alone. He believes he is sustained by a goddess who pours an 'elixir' through a hole in his palate. His claims have been supported by an Indian doctor who specializes in studies of people who claim supernatural abilities, but he has also been dismissed by others as a "village fraud."

India's Defence Research Development Organisation, whose scientists develop drone aircraft, intercontinental ballistic missiles and new types of bombs. They believe Mr Prahlad could teach them to help soldiers survive longer without food, or disaster victims to hang on until help arrives.

Sounds suspecious but 6 days is alot to see no signs of anything. Let's see how good this doctor is and see if he can find anything after like 24 days!

Naked girls plow fields for rain

Source: Reuters

Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plow parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday.

Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state plowed the fields and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly village women helped the girls drag the plows.

"They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council official, said from Bihar's remote Banke Bazaar town.

"This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."

India this year suffered its worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some states.

As long as it embarasses the gods and not the girls, I'm fine with it!

That's the wrong taco, meng!

Source: USA Today

A Hindu father from Ohio has filed a complaint with the Justice Department claiming his son was forced to eat a beef taco in the school cafeteria.

Ashish Gandhi says the boy ate the taco at the Academy of World Languages, a public magnet school in Cincinnati. Hindus consider eating beef a sacrilege.

Cincinnati Public Schools attorney Gary Winters told investigators the boy chose the taco himself, and the employee who gave it to him was unaware of his dietary restrictions.

Gandhi, who moved to the U.S. from India in 2007, calls the taco meal an "intentional act of religious bigotry." He filed a separate complaint claiming the school has refused to offer his son services for students who don't speak English.

Woah woah woah. There's an Academy of World Languages? What do they each there? Forced to eat? How do you force anyone to eat anything? It's a cafeteria! The kid should know what looks like meat and what doesn't. It's his religion!

How did the father know that the his kid ate beef? Was he there to witness it? How does the kid even know what beef taste like? If the kid went home and told his dad that he had beef and the kid knew what he was doing right?

So according to the dad, let's say for example I'm the employee. I take the student down to the cafeteria and say "Hey kid, this is all the stuff we have in this wonderful cafeteria, have at her". That's it right? My responsibility is done right? I've offered this wonderful student a meal.

This father wants me to

A) Offer he son food
B) Be aware of what his son can or cannot eat
C) Be able to speak hindi

Does he want me to spoonfeed it to him too? What does he think this is? Wolfgang Puck's Fine Dining? It's a fucking school cafeteria. He's lucky they give the kid any food at all and the fat cafeteria monitor lady (we all had one) doesn't shove it up his throat.

With attitudes like this, he seriously should be sent back home to India. I support deportation.

Amitabh Bachchan Takes A Stand

Source: Slant Eye For The Round Eye

First let's all just hail the red jacket.

Second - let's give it up for Amitabh Bachchan who's taking a stand and refusing an honorary doctorate from the Queensland University of Technology because of the racists attacks on Indian students from the past year (as many as 70):

"I have been witnessing, with great dismay and shock the recent violent attacks on Indian students in Australia," his blog post said.

"Under the present circumstances, where citizens of my own country are subjected to such acts of inhuman horror, my conscience does not permit me to accept this decoration from a country that perpetrates such indignity to my fellow countrymen."

Looking cool as MF and using his stature to shed light on racism?

Give that man a double.

Wonderful! Shows that the man has principle and will not accept a degree as school is giving just to masked reality. Hope that this being awareness to the issue of Indian students being assulted.

Indian dad avoids washing for 35 years

Bathing in the Ganges River, an Indian tradition

Source: Google

An Indian man who fathered seven daughters has not washed for 35 years in an apparent attempt to ensure his next child is a boy, newspapers reported.

Kailash "Kalau" Singh replaces bathing and brushing his teeth with a "fire bath" every evening when he stands on one leg beside a bonfire, smokes marijuana and says prayers to Lord Shiva, according to the Hindustan Times.

"It's just like using water to take a bath," Kalau was reported as saying. "A fire bath helps kill germs and infection in the body."

Kalau, 63, from a village outside the holy city of Varanasi, outraged his family by refusing to take a ritual dip in the river Ganges even after his brother died five years ago.

"I still don't remember how it all began," he said in Saturday's edition of the paper. "I just know it started about 35 years ago."

Kalau's hygiene regime has taken its toll on his professional life.

.....more

That's just GROSS!

However the story does bring up this issue. Why is it that all the Indian families I know have more daughters than sons and all the Chinese families I know have more daughters than sons. I know a Lebanese family with 8 daughters.

What causes this? Is is genetics? Is it superstition? I know Chinese women eat certain foods or pray alot when they plan to be pregnant and hope to have a boy? Does it work?

Me? I want a baby girl. So I can dress her up and play with her hair. I can't do much with a boy :)

Meet India's first porn star

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Slumdog stereotypes?

Source: The Agenda

Slumdog stereotypes? International Herald Tribune columnist Anand Giridharadas on the negative reactions to Slumdog Millionaire in India.



Rags to riches stories always do well. People love the underdog. But why are people afraid that India is depicted in a bad way? There are slums everywhere. Pretty Woman is about a prostitute.. are we supposed to look down on the US because there are prostitutes in cinema? This movie does not degrade India.

The director has publicly stated that they tried to show India as it truly is (rich and poor). Movies should be about everything. If every movie was about nobility and class and the wealthy it would be very boring.

Brides and Parents Back Home Get Picky as Economy Makes America Look Risky

Source: Wall Street Journal

Vikas Marwaha would normally be considered a good catch by Indian parents seeking a husband for their daughter. The 27-year-old software engineer earns $80,000 to $100,000 a year and comes from a family "of doctors and engineers," according to his profile on a matrimonial Web site.

But Mr. Marwaha works for a start-up Internet phone company in San Francisco. And because the U.S. economy is wobbly, that's a problem. Many Indian parents now are balking at sending their daughters to the U.S. to marry.

During a two-week wife-hunting trip to India in December, Mr. Marwaha interviewed 20 potential brides in 10 days. He says several parents asked him, "How has the recession impacted your job?" Mr. Marwaha says he assured them he hadn't been affected at all, but still he returned to the U.S. brideless.

Rahul Tamrakar, 32, a full-time consultant for International Business Machines Corp. in Chicago, has been looking for a bride back home in India. But he says prospective in-laws were worried that "consultant" was a euphemism for "unemployed." One parent asked to see his tax returns. He refused, and the talks fell through. Now, "I'm trying to meet up [with] girls who are in the U.S. already," he says.

Just marrying for money. Sad isn't it. Yes meeting up with girls in the US is a good idea. How about meeting up with a blonde! There's a concept! It always amazes me how culture and religion tie everyone's hands together.

Anisha Seth, 26, has been looking for a groom for two years now. But she feels "jittery" about considering nonresident Indians as possible options.

Ms. Seth grew up in Lucknow, a medium-size town southeast of Delhi, but now works as a financial executive in Mumbai and lives alone in an apartment. Ms. Seth is part of a wave of Indian women who have, in recent years, started working and living away from their parents before marriage.
Ms. Seth says that if she were to move to the U.S. or to another developed country, she might not get a job quickly and would have to be dependent on her husband for a while. While she's open to the idea of giving up her independence, she worries that given the state of the U.S. economy, a groom based in America might not be earning enough to support her. For instance, Ms. Seth says she likes nice clothes and would like to have a flat-screen TV. "Is he really prepared to provide the kind of lifestyle that I have right now?" She expects a husband to earn more than she does.

Clothes and a flat-screen tv aren't that expensive honey. That is your criteria for a husband? Clothes and a tv? Aiya!

Whatever happened to the saying 'short term pain for longterm gain'. If these parents wanted to send their daughters to America then this recession shouldn't change their minds. Do they think that the US will be poor forever? It's a giant elephant that will get back on it's feet. Even if a girl gets married tomorrow, it'll be a year before she even sets foot in America. By then it'll be much better.

I know an Indian guy from high school that had a very steady girlfriend. But then his mom made him go back to India for an arranged marriage. So he dumped his girlfriend to go back. The marriage didn't go through cause of some big argument before the wedding. So he lost two girls in a week.

PhD in India, security guard here, made right move

Source: Toronto Star

A university professor from India, Vijay Bhosekar never thought he would don a security guard uniform and walk his beat in malls and condo buildings in Toronto.

But that's what the gregarious 49-year-old agricultural scientist has been doing since he arrived here in April 2005.

The pay, just above $10 an hour, is meagre but Bhosekar is taking it in stride while enrolled in courses to upgrade his skills and acquire credentials to be a certified environmental practitioner and earn a professional designation in agrology.

"My view is, relative to other survival jobs, this job can give me better exposure and networking opportunity to meet different people," said Bhosekar, who had taught at his alma mater, the University of Agricultural Sciences, Hyderabad, for years. "The job is quite interesting. The thing about Canada is, I don't feel I lose my dignity. People respect me for what I do."

Bhosekar and his wife, Vaishali, an elementary school teacher, came to Canada so their only daughter, Meghana, 19, could get the best education. She now majors in environmental science at York University.

"I felt I was well qualified for a lot of jobs with my line of work and expertise," he said. "But it was a horrifying reality when we got here."

It is unfortunate that people from other countries come to Canada and cannot qualify for the same jobs as in their homeland, mostly because of skill set and language. However this is the right attitude because the parents came to Canada for their daughter, not for themselves. Being a security guard in Canada may have a higher wages than a doctor in alot of other places. The goal is to work hard and get by so that the daughter has all the opportunities possible in Canada that she would not have in India.

Girl raped on mystic advice

Source: The Straits Times

AN INDIAN businessman has been arrested for allegedly raping his daughter for more than eight years, apparently on the advice of a Hindu mystic who said it would make him wealthy, police said.

Authorities also arrested the man's wife, suspected of being an accomplice, and the mystic - a tantrik, or practitioner of the ancient Indian art of the occult - for allegedly raping the man's other minor daughter, police said on Thursday.

Police said the father, a 49-year-old car parts salesman from Mumbai's outskirts, began raping his oldest daughter in 2000, when she was 14, after he ran into financial troubles.

'The businessman approached a friend who claimed to possess tantrik powers, and the latter advised him to have sex with his daughter to prosper in life,' police officer Mukund Mahajan told the CNN-IBN news channel.

Police said that in recent months, the tantrik apparently began having sex with the businessman's 15-year-old daughter, also for occult reasons.

OK how stupid are people? Having sex with the daughter to being good luck is ridiculous enough, and then letting the tantrik have sex with her too? With the mothers approval? At what point to you realize that the tantrik tricks you to have sex with the girl. Ever?

What the article fails to mention is, did it work? Did they get richer? I can see them 'trying it' to see if it work, as heinous as that is. But did they get richer? If they didn't, they don't keep raping her for 8 years!

Leopard is pelted with stones by angry mob after he strays into their city

Source: Daily Mail

They are feared predators, sleek and lethal in the wild.

But this hunter swiftly became the hunted when he made the mistake of venturing into a residential area on a desperate search for food.

The full-grown male leopard looks terrified as he takes cover beside a bicycle in India.

As well he should - a mob of angry residents were chasing him, pelting him with stones.

Three people were seriously injured when the leopard came down to the residential Jyotikuchi area in the heart of Guwahati city, northeast India.

He left the shelter of the surrounding hills and stole into the city in search of food.

This is a better solution than what would have happened in Calgary where people would stay in the their homes and the authorities would just let the leopard roam around cause it's it natural habitat!

Indian police enrol rat recruits

Source: BBC

Police in India's Haryana state believe they have found a novel way to tackle a plague of mice infesting official records and destroying evidence.

They have started using a pair of domesticated white rats to scare the mice away.

Rodents are a huge problem in India, consuming tonnes of grain intended for human consumption every year.

The experiment has now attracted the attention of animal experts, who think it could be a solution to the problem.

They're cops. Can't they just shoot mice?

Traditional elephants a no-go at parade

Source: UPI

NEW DELHI, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- For the first time in 30 years, elephants will not be part of the annual military parade in New Delhi, an Indian official says.

An Indian Defense Ministry spokesman identified only as D. Mohanty said this year's ban on elephants was prompted by security concerns raised during last year's event in the Indian capital, the BBC reported Friday.

During last year's parade, two elephants nearly stampeded while approaching the president's platform, Mohanty said.

But the Defense Ministry official said the decision to remove the pachyderms from the parade also is a response to animal rights concerns.

"Besides, for four years now animal activists have demanded a ban on the use of elephants," Mohanty said. "These two reasons forced the government to decide against their use from this year."

The BBC said children who typically ride the elephants in recognition of acts of bravery will instead enjoy jeep rides during the parade.

JEEPS? That's just sad. So a couple people get stomped on, that's all part of the festivities. Further pussification of society.

A silent minority takes the wheel

Source: Toronto Star

Did you know that Indian-Canadians dominate driving tractor trailers?

The rain is coming down in torrents as Balwinder Gill pulls her silver Corolla into the Mattu Transport Inc. yard in Mississauga. She grabs an iron rod from the trunk and dashes toward a truck. She crawls between the front tires and knocks off chunks of icy snow beneath.

A mechanic tells her he has already checked the tires, oil and wiper fluid. Gill nods but checks the air pressure in the 10 tires anyway. And the oil. And the wiper fluid.

"I trust him but I still like to check everything before I leave," she says, swinging into the cab to pick up her trailer and the load for Montreal.

Daljit Dhillon, the mechanic, watches her leave in a blur of rain and mist. "Most drivers would've taken our word; not her," he says in Punjabi. "She's good."

For reasons cultural and otherwise, Gill, 32, is one of the few South Asian women in the GTA who drive tractor-trailers – an industry increasingly dominated by Indo-Canadian men

It shows that when people come to Canada. They will work very hard to contribute!

Honey, I've lost you in a game of cards

Source: AsiaOne

A MOTHER of two young children has gone into hiding after her husband wagered her in a card game and lost.

Worse, she only found out that she had been wagered when the four men who had 'won' her showed up to collect their booty on 19 Dec, reported the Times of India.

Instead of defending his wife, Mr Sokendra Kumar, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh simply told her: 'Tumko hum juen mein haar gaye hain (I have lost you in the game of cards).'

Fortunately for his wife, her screams drew the attention of their neighbours, who rushed in to prevent the men from dragging her away.

In the confusion, the four men fled.

That's gambling. You can gamble away anything. Ever see those old HK movies? They bet houses, wives, arms, hands, and their own life. But of course that's just the movie.

The most troubling part is the following.

When questioned, station officer Vijay Kumar confirmed that the woman had approached the police, but said that it was a domestic dispute.

He said: 'It was found to be a false allegation and the issue was only limited to a domestic dispute and she went home.

Police never help anyone in these places and it shows how little rights women have. If you bribe the police they'll look into it. But of course all the bribing money has been gambled away! Even the utensils!

Nine-year old girl is youngest person to become Microsoft Certified Professional

Source: Engadget

A nine year-old girl in India named M. Lavinashree has passed the Microsoft Certified Professional Exam, becoming the youngest person to ever pull it off (smashing the record previously held by a 10 year-old Pakistani girl). The youngster has a long history of making records in her short life -- including reciting all 1,300 couplets of a 2,000 year-old Tamil epic at the age of three -- and now she's now cramming for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Exam.

Everytime I see a story like this of a young person passing a test or graduating collage, I think back to the story of reincarnation. A person is to eat porridge upon reincarnating in order to wipe out his/her mind of the previous life.

I think cases like this show that this person skipped the line and didn't eat the porridge.

Business As Usual in India

Source: Daily Mail

The first sporting event on Indian soil after the Mumbai attacks began yesterday as India welcomed England for the first of two test matches.

On the roof of the ground, soldiers with guns keep guard. Very sad to see but England have 3000 soldiers to look after them and they are maintaining a visible presence. Bit eerie with those rifles trained on targets though.

England, who came into this cold and on a massive losing streak, looked quite comfortable with 164/1 at tea. But 4 wickets fell in the final session of the day on a very flat surface and England are vulnerable again. If India can quickly dismiss the tail on the morning of Day 2, then they will be in control and England will doubt themselves again. A team in poor form always fears the worse.


Now... did anyone understand what I just said? :)