Blame the Cowboys for introducing sexing up what was till then a wholesome activity. That triggered a slide toward the present state of affairs were sports are inextricably tied up to sex. You have very few pure sports situations. Every telecast of an NFL, or NBA (and I suppose now NHL) game has one or more shots of cheerleaders doing their thing. Every sports show on radio has to talk about celebrities and models. Even ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback column has segments like "Cheerleader of the week" etc. Don't even get me started on Sports Blogs which have to have shots of beautiful women in revealing clothing every few posts.
Now I am not complaining about this as such. I know the reasons why sex and sports go together, they appeal to the primal part of the male brain, blah blah blah. And I definitely am not averse to looking at beautiful women.
It's just a problem when I'm at work and I go to a sports blog to read up on the latest firing of an NFL coach and there's a picture of Marisa Miller in a bikini right next to the article. And I have to keep looking over my shoulder for someone who might walk by my desk and think I'm ogling the bikini model. To adapt a Homer Simpson quote, I don't mind being accused of leering when I am leering, or am about to leer or have just finished leering, but I don't like being accused of leering when I'm just interesting in knowing the latest talk about where Mike Shanahan might end up.
I wonder if it's harder to explain my way out of it in India or in the US. Atleast in the US, they understand the concept of reading a sports blog and the concept of how these sites use half-naked ladies to promote their sites. But then again, they're a lot more serious about sexual harassment and comfortable work environment over there. So far, thank God, I haven't had to explain any of this to someone walking by my desk. And I hope I don't have to.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
"It's funny because it's racist"
When Ricky Gervais did a bit on SNL where he claimed that while the US version of "The Office" was copied from his original UK version, his version was copied from an unknown Japanese version. We then go on to see a very caricatured version of The Office with excessive bowing and shy giggling. He wraps up this short by saying, "It's funny because it's racist!"
It's true, the clip is very racist, and very funny and in fact you're laughing out loud at the notion that SNL would get that racist to generate a few laughs. But the Gervais comment at the end is supposed to tell us that SNL was in on the joke from the beginning and therefore it is excusable. I just think the writers came up with a very racist sketch and then applied lipstick on that by the Gervais comment.
Anyway, that's just an excuse to borrow his line for the title of this entry. Check out this article about this new movie called "From Chandni Chowk to China" starring two of India's sexiest stars Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone. Huge release. But yeah, read this.How to make someone look Chinese? Wow! I'm just praying that one of the big stars pulls off a "slant eyed" caricature, just so I can watch the fallout from that political disaster.
It's true, the clip is very racist, and very funny and in fact you're laughing out loud at the notion that SNL would get that racist to generate a few laughs. But the Gervais comment at the end is supposed to tell us that SNL was in on the joke from the beginning and therefore it is excusable. I just think the writers came up with a very racist sketch and then applied lipstick on that by the Gervais comment.
Anyway, that's just an excuse to borrow his line for the title of this entry. Check out this article about this new movie called "From Chandni Chowk to China" starring two of India's sexiest stars Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone. Huge release. But yeah, read this.How to make someone look Chinese? Wow! I'm just praying that one of the big stars pulls off a "slant eyed" caricature, just so I can watch the fallout from that political disaster.
Monday, December 29, 2008
The South Indian Mess
Did you know the word "Mess" as it applies to a place where you eat, has its roots in the military? Fascinating!
During a conversation with a friend who lived in Pune, I mentioned that I was craving proper S. Indian food, especially the Tamil-style food where you get heaps of rice and buckets of sambar. Telugu people eat their curries, dals and sambars with rice, Tamilians on the other hand (atleast the ones I've met) first mix sambar into rice and then eat their curries and dals with this rice. It's like sambar rice replaces plain rice as a base. And I loved eating like this when I was in IIT. It was delicious but more importantly it was fast. I ate my meals during lunch time in less than 10 mins, leaving about 20-30 mins for a quick nap before the afternoon classes.
So my friend gave me directions to this S. Indian mess hall. I followed his directions (Hospital, Temple, Mess Hall) all the way up to the Temple but as I stopped my scooter and looked around, I couldn't find the mess hall, and frankly I felt it would be silly to ask them for "a South Indian mess hall" both because it would be too generic and because it might piss off some people.
At this point, while I was driving up and down looking up at the buildings, I heard a group of guys speaking Tamil! I figured these guys would definitely know what I was looking for but again, I didn't feel like asking them. So instead I reasoned that since it was lunch hour, these guys might be headed to the same location I was, so I just followed them! And my hunch was right. Soon I saw a sign that read "South Indian Mess".
The food was exactly as I had imagined it. I would have preferred a different curry but that's just nitpicking. Ultimately I was licking the sambar off my fingers before going to wash them, and that should tell you how happy I was to be eating there. It might become a regular thing for me, let's see.
Meanwhile, I also got the 4-1-1 on a Tyagaraja Tribute coming up in Jan. Good Sunday.
During a conversation with a friend who lived in Pune, I mentioned that I was craving proper S. Indian food, especially the Tamil-style food where you get heaps of rice and buckets of sambar. Telugu people eat their curries, dals and sambars with rice, Tamilians on the other hand (atleast the ones I've met) first mix sambar into rice and then eat their curries and dals with this rice. It's like sambar rice replaces plain rice as a base. And I loved eating like this when I was in IIT. It was delicious but more importantly it was fast. I ate my meals during lunch time in less than 10 mins, leaving about 20-30 mins for a quick nap before the afternoon classes.
So my friend gave me directions to this S. Indian mess hall. I followed his directions (Hospital, Temple, Mess Hall) all the way up to the Temple but as I stopped my scooter and looked around, I couldn't find the mess hall, and frankly I felt it would be silly to ask them for "a South Indian mess hall" both because it would be too generic and because it might piss off some people.
At this point, while I was driving up and down looking up at the buildings, I heard a group of guys speaking Tamil! I figured these guys would definitely know what I was looking for but again, I didn't feel like asking them. So instead I reasoned that since it was lunch hour, these guys might be headed to the same location I was, so I just followed them! And my hunch was right. Soon I saw a sign that read "South Indian Mess".
The food was exactly as I had imagined it. I would have preferred a different curry but that's just nitpicking. Ultimately I was licking the sambar off my fingers before going to wash them, and that should tell you how happy I was to be eating there. It might become a regular thing for me, let's see.
Meanwhile, I also got the 4-1-1 on a Tyagaraja Tribute coming up in Jan. Good Sunday.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
A scary dream
I dreamed that Priyanka Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi's daughter, became the PM of the country. I was at her inauguration where she had Jayalalitha on one side as her lawyer and best friend and Mayawati on her other side as her personal bodyguard. Everyone was celebrating her victory except me. I was sitting in a corner of the big dinner table and sulking and finally when I couldn't stand it anymore I threw away my dinner thali bringing everything to sudden silence. Everyone is staring at me and Laloo Prasad Yadav asks me, in English, "Kalyan, what is the matter with you? Why are you insulting our sister during a joyous time like this?" And I reply, "Joyous? For whom? This our great nation, built with the blood sweat and tears of our fathers. And I have to see its greatness lowered and see our heritage degraded by this half-Italian mongrel?"
Immediately I hear the patter of feet at Priyanka quickly shuffles down the dinner table and suddenly lops my head off with a sword. She slowly turns to the rest of the country, picks up my head, and says in Hindi "Just so you understand how serious I am, I will say this in Hindi. As your leader, I encourage all of you to question, in a respectful way, any decisions I make. And I swear this to you right now, no topic will ever be off-limits. Except the one that was just under discussion. The penalty that you pay for mentioning my Italian ancestry in a negative fashion will be that I will collect your freakin' head. Now ... is anything else ANY OF YOU WANTS TO SAY? ... I didn't think so."
Immediately I hear the patter of feet at Priyanka quickly shuffles down the dinner table and suddenly lops my head off with a sword. She slowly turns to the rest of the country, picks up my head, and says in Hindi "Just so you understand how serious I am, I will say this in Hindi. As your leader, I encourage all of you to question, in a respectful way, any decisions I make. And I swear this to you right now, no topic will ever be off-limits. Except the one that was just under discussion. The penalty that you pay for mentioning my Italian ancestry in a negative fashion will be that I will collect your freakin' head. Now ... is anything else ANY OF YOU WANTS TO SAY? ... I didn't think so."
Get out of here you single person!
Ouch that hurt. I am sitting here in the food court of the mall where I try to show up at every weekend with my laptop or a book. Normally I get a Subway sandwich but since I had a late lunch today, I didn't get anything else. Suddenly this gentleman walks up to me, leans in and asks me, "Sir did you order anything?" I reply, "No." He then says, "Then I will have to ask you to sit properly (This one is my fault, I was sitting with my feet up on another chair.) Also, could you go sit in the other part of the mall? People are coming to my food court here and want to use the tables for their families."
Man, I knew being single sucked but this is just terrible. I don't think a couple, or a big family for that matter, would have been asked to move if they weren't eating. As the single guy here, I am the designated destitute?
I told him that if that was the case I'd get something to eat from one of the stalls here. He was immediately contrite, "It's not like that sir, you can sit in those tables over there." "No no" I told him, "I don't want to move from here, and if I need to get something to eat in order to sit here, then I'll do so."
Well I purchased a Coke can for Rs. 25 that I have no intention of drinking since it's past 9pm. I think I'll just leave it there and show it to him the next time he comes my way.
I guess this only became an issue this week because Ghajini (Hindi) is out this weekend and the multiplex is totally packed with crowds. But hey, I came here first and if these couples and "families" want to sit at these table, they should have shown up first. Isn't it that simple?
That's one area in which India really sucks. You don't get half the respect when you're single as you get when you get married, like you're not really a person till you have a woman on your arm. I say woman since it's the males who are shown such utter disrespect. A single female is treated as an oddity but I don't think she's get disrespected the way single guys do. The funny thing is, I thought my gigantic laptop and my UT t-shirt that I'm wearing would have been an indication that I am not a hobo. Maybe I should be carrying my IIT degree around my neck? Wear a ton of cologne? What can a brother do to get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T?
Man, I knew being single sucked but this is just terrible. I don't think a couple, or a big family for that matter, would have been asked to move if they weren't eating. As the single guy here, I am the designated destitute?
I told him that if that was the case I'd get something to eat from one of the stalls here. He was immediately contrite, "It's not like that sir, you can sit in those tables over there." "No no" I told him, "I don't want to move from here, and if I need to get something to eat in order to sit here, then I'll do so."
Well I purchased a Coke can for Rs. 25 that I have no intention of drinking since it's past 9pm. I think I'll just leave it there and show it to him the next time he comes my way.
I guess this only became an issue this week because Ghajini (Hindi) is out this weekend and the multiplex is totally packed with crowds. But hey, I came here first and if these couples and "families" want to sit at these table, they should have shown up first. Isn't it that simple?
That's one area in which India really sucks. You don't get half the respect when you're single as you get when you get married, like you're not really a person till you have a woman on your arm. I say woman since it's the males who are shown such utter disrespect. A single female is treated as an oddity but I don't think she's get disrespected the way single guys do. The funny thing is, I thought my gigantic laptop and my UT t-shirt that I'm wearing would have been an indication that I am not a hobo. Maybe I should be carrying my IIT degree around my neck? Wear a ton of cologne? What can a brother do to get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T?
Cricket with the colleagues
In two weeks our office is playing a cricket match with the Mumbai Offshore office. So this weekend we decided to see if any of us still remembered how to play. The plan was to meet up at the office building at 7:30am and then travel to the grounds from there.
Now keep in mind that I love my weekend sleep-ins and that we're smack in the middle of winter, when I tell you that I hated waking up on Saturday morning. And then you add my preference for punctuality to the fact that I didn't see another colleague till 8am and you can imagine how pissed off I was. Turns out, it's assumed that no one will show up at 7:30am, and people started waking up at their leisure. And I had to end up driving from one point to another before I finally saw some people. The first ground we tried was occupied, so we bounced to another ground and we finally started playing at 9am.
Other than one player, no one had really played in a long time. So we all had trouble doing basic things like throwing and catching! We ended up playing two games and the second was much better. The ground was next to a slum. Some of the fielders were refusing to field in a certain part of the ground and when I asked why, their response was simply, "Landmines". And when i saw what they were referring to, I was disgusted. When I was sent to field in that area, I had to be very careful where I stepped, and soon I told them I wasn't going to go there anymore :)
Of course now I'm sore as hell with a sprained ankle but it feels good.
Now keep in mind that I love my weekend sleep-ins and that we're smack in the middle of winter, when I tell you that I hated waking up on Saturday morning. And then you add my preference for punctuality to the fact that I didn't see another colleague till 8am and you can imagine how pissed off I was. Turns out, it's assumed that no one will show up at 7:30am, and people started waking up at their leisure. And I had to end up driving from one point to another before I finally saw some people. The first ground we tried was occupied, so we bounced to another ground and we finally started playing at 9am.
Other than one player, no one had really played in a long time. So we all had trouble doing basic things like throwing and catching! We ended up playing two games and the second was much better. The ground was next to a slum. Some of the fielders were refusing to field in a certain part of the ground and when I asked why, their response was simply, "Landmines". And when i saw what they were referring to, I was disgusted. When I was sent to field in that area, I had to be very careful where I stepped, and soon I told them I wasn't going to go there anymore :)
Of course now I'm sore as hell with a sprained ankle but it feels good.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A Christmas wishlist
One thing I forgot to mention in the entry about Shilparamam, the handicrafts village, is my favorite part of the trip there. While walking around the place, I noticed the songs/music they were playing over the PA system. They had some chanting going on for a while which was very nice. A while later I noticed we were listening to a sitar, and it was very good. I was only paying attention periodically but soon that's all I could hear. Now I'd rate my knowledge of Indian classical music at probably 20%. So I was quite thrilled when I felt like I knew what raga I was hearing - I guessed it was Raag Desh but I had to know for sure. So I asked the security people there and they guided me to the tent that was playing all the music. When I went there and asked for the CDs they'd been playing all day long they showed me among others, Anoushka Shankar's "Live at Carnegie Hall". And I was right, it was Raag Desh she had been playing!
So of course now I have become obsessed with adding this CD to my collection, if nothing else, to mark my triumph in identifying the raga. Unfortunately after searching in two cities I still haven't been able to get my hands on it. Apparently the CD has been out for a while, so none of the stores have it.
On the other hand, I was able to get two other items on my shopping list. A jump rope (called skipping rope in India), that I decided to get after a conversation with a friend who got one recently as well. The other item was a 8GB micro SD card for my new MP3 player. This effectively doubles the capacity of my player to 16 GB. I saw one in Hyderabad but the guy was selling it for Rs. 2700, which I felt was a bit high, especially since what I really wanted was a 16 GB card. But yesterday I found one in Pune for Rs. 1550. I am sure if I wait for a few weeks, it'll drop to below Rs. 1000 but since I am in a hurry to get all my MP3 collection on my new player, I didn't want to wait.
(You should see my computer now, it has six USB slots and there are times when I have five of them running - mouse, external HD, to recharge MP3 player, to transfer files from phone and one for my internet card! My landlord was surprised at how little furniture I have in the apt but how much tech stuff I have.)
So of course now I have become obsessed with adding this CD to my collection, if nothing else, to mark my triumph in identifying the raga. Unfortunately after searching in two cities I still haven't been able to get my hands on it. Apparently the CD has been out for a while, so none of the stores have it.
On the other hand, I was able to get two other items on my shopping list. A jump rope (called skipping rope in India), that I decided to get after a conversation with a friend who got one recently as well. The other item was a 8GB micro SD card for my new MP3 player. This effectively doubles the capacity of my player to 16 GB. I saw one in Hyderabad but the guy was selling it for Rs. 2700, which I felt was a bit high, especially since what I really wanted was a 16 GB card. But yesterday I found one in Pune for Rs. 1550. I am sure if I wait for a few weeks, it'll drop to below Rs. 1000 but since I am in a hurry to get all my MP3 collection on my new player, I didn't want to wait.
(You should see my computer now, it has six USB slots and there are times when I have five of them running - mouse, external HD, to recharge MP3 player, to transfer files from phone and one for my internet card! My landlord was surprised at how little furniture I have in the apt but how much tech stuff I have.)
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