Photographing Kids..

.. isn't easy as Bill Watterson fondly chronicled in so many strips for the iconic Calvin & Hobbes. Examples abound. Here are two:

Continue reading "Photographing Kids.."

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- July 3, 2009 5:37 PM // Permalink // Virj

The Dishum Digest I

Here's a collection of links I found over the last month or so that I found relevant but never had the time to expand into full fledged posts. Here goes:

  • Move over Bikram! The new Yoga King of LA wears "a message-free tank top and shorts, without a Buddhist bead or Sanskrit phrase visible anywhere." Devoted fans say "‘I’d rather take yoga from you than some weird dude in a robe."
  • The Saffron Sandalwood Sour as created by Seattle bartender Anu Apte. Alternate take here.
  • File under lazy movie naming: a documentary about Israelis in India. Why, let's call it Hummus Curry, of course! Brilliant! Other less brilliant names would have been Shalom Namaste or Falafel Dosa. [Thanks Amar]
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- July 1, 2009 10:06 PM // Permalink // General

Breathe!

Our first original video in a while. Enjoy!

Our day to day lives, ordinary as they are, are full of little indignities, friction, stress and strain. All of these mini earthquakes add up. We put this project together as a reminder to ourselves to pause and inhale deeply once in a while. To breathe!

Follow us over the fold to view.

Continue reading "Breathe!"

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- June 6, 2009 10:17 PM // Permalink // breathe

Virj @ 18 months

Virj at his 18 month check up. My, how time flies ...

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- May 29, 2009 10:15 PM // Permalink // Virj

How Not To Run A Desi Restaurant

Have you ever been to a curry house to eat where the food is just no good?
I mean the naan is soggy, the makhani mushed and the tikka dry cardboard?"

Chef Gordon Ramsay is big in the UK and his program, "Kitchen Nightmares," where he dispenses tough love and witty zingers aplenty to ailing restaurants, a top show. In this particular segment, he takes on the Curry Lounge in Nottingham, a place torpedoed by an overambitious menu and decor that's a cross between "Bollywood Bling" and a lap dance club. Run by a salesman turned restaurateur, this establishment was apparently losing tons of money per week when it attracted the attentions of Mr. Ramsay.

Now, I am as suspicious of these rescue tales as anyone, but I found this particular show to be a fascinating watch regardless, not the least because what ailed the Curry Lounge was no different than desi restaurants in the SF Bay Area. Most Indian restaurants here, at one point, seemed to be run by folks new to the business. Moreover, their target audience is never desis like us, but rather the upscale, Caucasian crowd. In an effort to attract their target clientele, such places inevitably turn to "fusion" creations which run the risk of being inauthentic and thus end up pretty much alienating everybody. And meanwhile, the best places to go to for Indian food in the Peninsula region at least, end up being the Pakistani joints who at least don't try to be anything they're not.

Consequently, I wasn't skeptical about Ramsay intervening in the affairs of the Curry Lounge - after all, he is part of their target demographic. I was curious about his point of view though. And while his comments likening the naan over there to a "large pair of knickers" must have stung, I would imagine his criticism of their menu as being a dodgy DIY nightmare (apparently they allowed you to mix and match your own curry dish) and the food as being oily, dry and bland hurt more. Moreover, his discovery of the kitchen using tinned pineapple, store bought curry paste and pre-made frozen samosas was equally horrifying.

I enjoyed the changes Ramsay brought to the joint and his efforts at out of the box thinking in terms of marketing. While his effort to refashion the Curry Lounge menu into simpler, more authentic dishes was straightforward, I found his idea to introduce the notion of tiffin lunch deliveries fascinating. Certainly non obvious - the easy choice would have been to go buffet. In addition, hiring ladies versed in the art of Bollywood dance and parading them up and down the streets of Nottingham is a stunt that, I would daresay, not occur to most Indian restaurants as a way of drumming up business. While tacky, again, this is something that would appeal to the target audience. In addition, Ramsay is not afraid to consult his friends that are more knowledgeable as regards desi khana and that lends some weight to the proceedings.

There's more in the actual program including a power struggle and a taste test that Ramsay tries on the restaurant stuff where they discover they themselves can't tell any of the dishes apart. Have fun!

Part 1 (no embedding, sadly).

Part 2

Part 3



This particular episode was a big hit in the UK apparently:

The audience for Channel 4's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares hit a series high of 4.3 million last night, Tuesday December 11.

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, which last night featured a curry restaurant in Nottingham, drew an 18% share of the audience between 9pm and 10pm, ahead of the series' 15% average, according to unofficial overnight ratings.

The current series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares debuted with 3.9 million on October 30 but fell to as low as 2.5 million and a 10% share on November 20. It has since recovered, hitting a previous high of 4 million two weeks ago.

Makes you wonder why Ramsay waited so long to feature an Indian restaurant in his program. I suppose the hunger for all things curry in the UK continues unabated.

Update

Manoj writes:

You'd be interested to know that Ramsay did work on an Indian restaurant on the American version (Dillons, NYC). Sounds similar to the Nottingham setup. Health violations galore, blah menu and a power struggle.

http://www.fox.com/kitchennightmares/recaps/season1/102_1.htm

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- May 9, 2009 3:56 PM // Permalink // Food , TV

Not So Super Heroes

Exhibit A, "Speed Eater":

superhero


Exhibit B, "Squirrel Girl":

superhero


Exhibit C, "Super Govinda and Spider Simi":

superhero

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- April 23, 2009 8:21 PM // Permalink // Humour

Electric Panties and Bollywood

Indulge me for a second if you will. Salon has an article on the phenomenon of edible underwear in Syria and before you get carried away by prurient thoughts, consider that the main consumers usually:

..tend to be mothers buying underwear for their soon-to-be-married daughters. "Most of them are religious and wear veils and long coats," says Abu Adnan, who sells lingerie a few stores further along. It's a tradition that a Syrian bride brings a whole suitcase full of underwear when she gets married, he explains, adding that the new popularity of sexy underwear has a practical application.

Nonetheless, further description of the inventory in the stores revealed some interesting kinks:

On Hayed's stand, respectable push-up bras sit next to exotic models. One bra consists of two bird nests, outfitted with miniature sparrows. Above that is a design where plastic roses conceal the wearer's charms. There is a whole collection of electronically enhanced panties in which a button is attached at strategically important places. When it is pushed, lights flash, or a hidden device plays Arabic love songs.

I couldn't help but think that if, instead of Arabic warbling, these, uh, devices played back stuff from Bollywood's rich catalog of mohabattein related music? Or if there was a desi version, perhaps inspired by the Pink Chaddi Brigade? What kind of tunes would be appropriate? Some were no-brainers, so as to speak. Consider:

  • Choli Ke Peeche roughly translated as "what's behind the choli?"
  • Purdah Hai Purdah - "Curtain oh curtain"
  • Ghagre Mein Dhoom Dham - "Lotsa happening behind the ghagra"

Others might be more straightforward expressions of pure joy, eg.:

  • Singh Is Kinng
  • Dil Chahta Hai - "What the heart wants"
  • Dhoom - "Excitement."

Send me more. Be happy to add them to the list.

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- April 20, 2009 10:56 PM // Permalink // Bollywood

Bhakti Fail

Picture taken at the Livermore Temple here in the Bay Area. For those times when demonstrating your devotion reduces line throughput:

temple,sign bhakti

BTW sashtanga namashkara can roughly be translated as worship while prostrated. You can imagine why this might slow things down when others are in line.

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- April 19, 2009 3:41 PM // Permalink // Bay Area , Diaspora

Family Outing

More by Shari here.

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- April 15, 2009 5:25 PM // Permalink // Bay Area

Yoga Baby

Virj showing off his vinyasa ..

Yoga Baby

Photographing a toddler, particularly one as active as Big V, is decidedly non trivial. Our own efforts usually result in blurs in the picture indicating where Virj is flowing to next. So, many thanks to Vien for capturing this fleeting and special moment. It definitely wasn't easy.

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- April 7, 2009 7:56 PM // Permalink // Virj

Screwed

Friends of ours, after having moved to London, found themselves stuck in a hellhole of an apartment. And utterly cheap landlords who refused to fix anything. And siilverfish in the flat. And threats of lawsuits and litigation flying back and forth. And having the owner of the rathole reside next door. And having said owner be one of the members of Spandau Ballet. Yes, that Spandau Ballet, of "True" fame:

After slowly realizing one of the architects of the soundtrack of my teenage years was now a slumlord and knowing nothing about UK rental legislation, I wrote the following from the POV of our friend as some sort of consolation. Enjoy.

To be sung to the tune of "True", what else?

"Screwed"

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh

So screwed funny how it seems
want rent in time, but never found for leaks
hole in the wall from steel toed shoe
this is the sound of the slum
hear all that sound

I lost my ticket to the world
so now I am stuck in this hell
why do i find crap in my sewer line?
oh the slumlord has got to be paid

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh
I know this much I'm screwed
Huh huh huh hu-uh huh
It's no good I'm screwed

With some booze in my hand and pills on my tongue
there's all that noise that has just begun
listening to neighbors (all night long)
this is the sound of the slum
hear all that sound

Roaches scurrying in my pants
they have minds of their own
take your filthy hands off my washing line
yeah the truth must be known

Huh huh huh hu-uh huh
I know this much I'm screwed
Huh huh huh hu-uh huh
It's no good I'm screwed

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- March 27, 2009 10:04 PM // Permalink // Music

Curry, Women and Song


"Right gentlemen," said the cabbie brightly. "Where am I taking you?"

"To where the three remedies for the darkness of the soul may be found," said Spider.

"Maybe we could get a curry." suggested Fat Charlie.

"There are three things, and three things only, that can lift the pain of mortality and ease the ravages of life," said Spider. "These things are wine, women and song."

"Curry's nice too," pointed out Fat Charlie, but nobody was listening to him.

-- Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

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- March 23, 2009 10:06 PM // Permalink // Books

Teaser Trailer for "Patang"

Some notes about Patang, the upcoming debut from writer/director Prashant Bhargava:

  • it's set during a kite festival in Ahmedabad, India. This is India's largest festival. Prashant did about 4 years of research for the film.
  • It was shot entirely hand held.
  • Prashant held a workshop for the child actors in the film. There were 12 actors, all from different regions.
  • It features established Indian actresses such as Seema Biswas (Bandit Queen, Ek Hasina Thi, Zindagi Rocks) and up and comers like Nowaz (Dev D) and Sugandha Garg (Jaane Tu Jaane Na, My Name is Khan).
  • About 90% of the cast are non-professional.
  • The film is being put together in post even as we speak. Prashant is holed up in Chicago editing, aiming for a 2010 release.
  • The crew went to great lengths to preserve the local atmosphere, tough in such a crowded, traffic packed environment. The sense of place though comes brilliantly in the footage.
  • The music you hear in the trailer is temp. The completed film will feature an original score.

One of the pleasant side effects of the success of Slumdog (other than catapulting Ms. Pinto to it girl status) would be in easing the way for more original desi brewed voices like Prashant's. You've tasted the restaurant-made, now it's time to try the homecooked.


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- March 7, 2009 2:25 PM // Permalink // Film

Bollywood and Poverty

Look, I'd be the first person to say that poverty isn't a high priority subject matter in Bollywood but to say that Slumdog Millionaire is the first modern film to deal with it is stretching matters. That's why I have to take issue with this article by Sandip Roy entitled The New Bollywood:

The new Bollywood rarely looks at villages or slums, even though more than 800 million Indians live on less than 50 cents a day. Those stories don't sell in mega-mall India.

"After 15 years of hearing about 'India Shining,' 'Slumdog' brings it down to earth," says Vamsee Juluri, professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco. ("India Shining" was a political slogan reflecting India's new prosperity.) "Does that mean we'll see Bollywood films set in slums? I doubt it."

Three pukka Bollywood films from the past 20 years set in the slums that I can think off the top of my head:


Dayavan (1988): "After having witnessed his dad being killed by the local South Indian police, and being orphaned and homeless, Shakti Velhu develops a hate, and distrust of the police in India. He is befriended by another homeless boy named Shanker, who asks him to accompany him to Bombay's slumlands, where they live with a kind-hearted Muslim named Karim Baba, and his daughter, Shama. This is where Shakti and Shankar spend their childhood. When they mature, they take to petty crime. Here too, Shakti witnesses police brutality and atrocities, especially at the hands of sadistic, alcoholic, and womanizing Police Inspector Ratan Singh."

Parinda (1989): "Kishen (Jackie Shroff) and Karan (Anil Kapoor) are two brothers who grow up in the slums of Mumbai. At an early age Kishen decides to provide a better life for himself and Karan. He thus joins the Indian underworld. He also sends Karan abroad so that he can lead a better life.

Years pass by and Kishen (Jackie Shroff) is now the a henchman of for the criminal Anna (Nana Patekar). Karan (Anil Kapoor) returns and meets his chilhood friend Prakash (Anupam Kher) who is now a honest police officer. As they meet, however, Prakash is killed by Anna's gang in front of Karan. At that time, Karan comes to know of the involvement of his brother in the murder."

Satya (1998): "Mumbai is in the midst of a turf war between many gangs, collectively referred to as the Mumbai underworld. In these circumstances, Satya (J.D Chakravarthy), a man without a past, comes to the city in search of a job. He finds accommodation in a cow-shed and employment as a waiter at the local dance bar. While working, he gets involved in a scuffle with a local goon Jagga (Jeeva), bag man for dreaded don Guru Narayan. Jagga takes his revenge by getting Satya arrested on false charges of pimping."


There's more here. To quote:

Black Friday (2004). This film, by young director Anurag Kashyap depicts the March 1993 bomb blasts that tore apart Bombay (as Mumbai used to be called). It was based on a book by journalist S. Hussain Zaidi and filmed in an edgy, realistic style. A famous sequence from the film, a 12-minute police chase through the crowded Dharavi slum, is mimicked by Danny Boyle in the opening scene of Slumdog Millionaire, where truant slum-kids take the place of Black Friday’s militants.

Satya (1998) a.k.a The Truth. This film was also cited by Boyle as an inspiration, as was The Company (2002). Both offer slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai underworld. Both films were directed by Ram Gopal Varma, a director with a fine taste for brutality and urban violence. The screenplay for Satya was co-written by Saurabh Shukla (who plays a policeman named Srinivas in Slumdog Millionaire) and Anurag Kashyap, who directed Black Friday; with its intense rhythm and captivating performances, Satya instantly became a contemporary classic in India.

Deewaar (1975) a.ka. The Wall. Boyle describes this melodramatic film as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema.” He could be talking about scores of Bollywood films. Based in Bombay, the hit crime film pits a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan. The actor who played the gangster, was Amitabh Bachchan (who, incidentally, was the original host of the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? As a kid, Jamal, the protagonist in Slumdog Millionaire,wades through fecal waste just to get Bachchan’s autograph.

Parinda (1989) a.k.a. The Bird. Another hugely popular thriller about two very different brothers, this time a Bombay gangster and an educated idealist. Film critics gush over the “low-angle tracking shots and swiftly changing volumes in the image” in this film by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The actor playing the straight-and-narrow brother, Anil Kapoor, now nearly two decades later, plays the creepy, condescending game-show host in Slumdog Millionaire.

Yes, by and large, Bollywood continues to avoid poverty as a subject matter but in addition to the films mentioned above, there have been films in the past decade or so that don't shy away from the topic. While they are not necessarily situated in slums per se, they do deal with related issues. Consider Chandni Bar (2002) , a film about Bombay bar girls or 3 Deewarain (2003) set in a vicious Mumbai prison or Aamir (2008) , a tremendous little man-on-the-run thriller, set in the Muslim dominated streets, the bylanes and poor living conditions of people living in residential pockets of old Bombay.

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- February 22, 2009 8:38 PM // Permalink // Bollywood

f-stopmarin

One of the pros of living in the Bay Area is the sheer level of talent - you never know who you might bump into. And when you do, chances are he/she are very good at their chosen profession. I ran into Mindy Pines yesterday at a birthday party and she invited me to check out her photoblog. I did and was blown away. Her mission statement reads in part:

Mention Marin and most think money. Touted the most affluent county in the nation with median home prices surpassing a million, no wonder.

But many of us who call Marin home are renters. Others are homeless. Some drive old cars. Some take the bus. Some work blue collar jobs. Some are unemployed. Whether we're doctors or nurses' aides, restaurant owners or servers, wealthy or not-so-wealthy, we who live here are fortunate to be in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

I have to say she does a bang up job. Take for example, "Daddy's Girl," her picture from the aforementioned party:

Note the way she captures the love and playfulness.

As another example, take the Golden Gate bridge. It's been photographed so many times, it's tough to find a different perspective. I found two here though. The first is entitled "Below Golden Gate":

and the second is "Aliens, GGB":

And as for Marin itself, here are some additional goodies. "Local Color/San Rafael:"

and "Boxtops, Greenbrae:"

I could go on and on. Suffice it to say, the blog is jam packed with great shots like this. Very addictive indeed.

If you want to know more about Mindy, here's an article link.

OK - one more! "Determination/ Marin Headlands":


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- February 15, 2009 12:41 PM // Permalink // Bay Area

Desis In Odd Places IV

During the past year or so, the story of Rinku and Dinesh have been doing the rounds on the sports, news and talk show circuits. In brief, they are winners of a reality show ("The Million Dollar Arm") held in India to find some top class baseball prospects. That anyone would look for pitching talent in India where it has been customary for generations of cricket fans to bemoan the lack of genuine fast bowlers (something only changing now with the advent of Ishant Sharma) is amazing and easily attributed to a marketing gimmick designed to sell sneakers to India's middle class consumers. That the winners of said gimmick would actually sign with a Major League Baseball organizaiton, in this case the Pittsburgh Pirates, is nothing short of mind blowing:

The Pittsburgh Pirates hope Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel really do have million-dollar arms.

The two 20-year-old pitchers, neither of whom had picked up a baseball until earlier this year, signed free-agent contracts Monday with the Pirates. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts outside their country.

Singh and Patel came to the United States six months ago after being the top finishers in an Indian reality TV show called the Million Dollar Arm that drew about 30,000 contestants. The show sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 85 miles per hour or faster.

While neither pitcher threw hard enough to earn the $1 million prize, Singh made $100,000 from the contest and Patel made $2,500, plus his trip to the United States.

The contest was sponsored by a California sports management company that believed it could locate major league-worthy arms in a country of more than one billion. After working extensively with Southern California pitching coach Tom House since May, the pitchers staged a tryout in Tempe, Ariz., on Nov. 6 that was attended by 30 major league scouts.

and

"Think of them as two Dominican kids," House told the scouts. "They're very raw. But I think this has a huge upside."

When they first came to the United States and began playing catch, the pitchers were mystified by the concept of gloves and had to be taught not to try to catch the ball with their bare hands.
:
:
Patel and Singh are learning English, most of which they have picked up from watching ESPN's Baseball Tonight and by taking online classes.

And they are practicing their English on their blog, The Million Dollar Arm, which they update regularly. Intially, I thought the language on the blog was a joke, ghostwritten to be deliberately raw and conform to Indian English stereotypes. However, reading through the entries convinced me of its genuineness. It's hard to fake excitement at the opportunity of a lifetime. And the notion of desi athletes excelling in a game so far outside Indian norms is pretty cliche busting anyway.

What I liked most about the blog, in addition to the cameos by baseball superstars (tips from Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson and Brian Wilson? Really?), are the observations about living in a different, foreign country for the first time, the same problems encountered by immigrants such as homesickness and all that, but from a slightly different perspective i.e. not a student or white collar or blue collar worker and similar temptations. From that standpoint, a genuine voice on a ten dollar a month blog is worth more than a million dollars worth of marketing. Amidst much talk about practice and strength training, some choice excerpts on life in the USA:

  • The American Dream:: "Today was the first day of our training on American soil. People often hope to conquer this great, so-called ‘American Dream’ back home in India. But here we are, the lucky ones blessed with this dream. Who knew we would be the privileged two selected to play baseball in this great nation of opportunities!"

  • Jetlag: "I guess the Trans-Atlantic journey has affected me more than I’d want to believe. I was fighting sleep during practice hours yesterday. Today was no better. I hope coach hasn’t spotted me stifling my yawns. Definitely, don’t want the first impression to be the wrong one."

  • The Rock: "Rock very good actor. he writing Rinku, Keep Kicking Ass, Dwayne Johnson. "

  • Wedding In The US: "The Wedding festival in America like India little. Man and wife not ride horse or elephant in America. they walking to priest."

  • The Cable Guy Review: "We also watching the Cable Guy. The movie actor very good faces. he very crazy man, doing many crazy things in movie. End not so good."

  • Whether Santa Claus Exists: "We not believing in Santa Claus, but JB sir say it true. Santa sir deliver us sweat shirts in night. we find morning. we still think JB sir. Dinesh write note for the thanks and JB sir say you send letter North Pole. We going on line and see no one living north pole. very crazy american festival."

  • First Product Deal: "We get first deal with the Under Armor company. they makings us shoes, cleets, knickers, shirts. It was very awesome to return from the practice and received such kind gifts."

  • American Women: "One very, very bad thing about the news is that they say I on the BABEWATCH. This not true. i not watching girls. i only pitching, training, eat, watch baseball/Movies and sleep. American women very dangerous and very crazy. I like only Indian woman. Dinesh and JB, Sir have been harrassing me about this BABEWATCH. I do not like the BABEWATCH."

  • Being signed by the Pirates: "We right away went to the internet to locate Pittsburgh on map. It is in north east part of USA and looks like very good city."

  • The joys of Dennys: "We went with JB sir to breakfast at a great American breakfast eatery called Dennys. Rinku ordered a breakfast aclled the Lumberjack. We now know that a Lumberjack is a person who works as a tree cutter in the forrest so they must eat a lot of food. this breakfast was quite huge. It had eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, potatos, breads, and pancakes. I had French Toast and both meals were very fulfilling."

More nuggets on their blog, a must read if you want to follow two wild and crazy guys blogging their slice of the American Dream.

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- January 25, 2009 10:20 AM // Permalink // Diaspora , Sports

(Belated) Happy New Year

Reprinting, by permission, a vignette from Athena Kashyap on her return to Mumbai in the aftermath of the latest attacks:

Shortly after the year turned, we walked up a narrow promontory of land, cradled on three sides by huge swathes of the Arabian Sea, up to the Ban Ganga water tank.

Gazing down at the brown sands of Chowpatty beach, looking demure under coconut trees, the colonial pillars of Wilson College visible right across from the beach, across from the sleepy roadway on which the morning’s traffic had yet to wake up, we could have been taking our walk a hundred years ago, expecting at any time to see a Victorian horse drawn buggy clip-clopping into the distance, disappearing into the foggy lights of the Queen’s Necklace.

But as we continued our walk, different eras of Mumbai’s past began to emerge. Here and there, we still spied a building from the British past—the chief minister’s bungalow, a Rajasthani palace built out of red stone—looking incongruous, even a little absurd, next to the concrete apartment buildings of our times, sitting squat and ugly, hugging the road so closely that not even Bombay’s tenacious trees could take root next to them.

Then, as we neared the tank, Mumbai’s ethnic identity from several hundred years ago began to assert itself. We found ourselves walking on narrow cobbled lanes built not horses nor cars but for pedestrians, lined on either side by temples, small houses with upturned roofs, entrances engraved with carvings, and stalls selling vegetables, sweets, and flowers. Here and there, a priest bustled around, barefoot, washing the steps of the temple, performing their God’s morning ablutions to get ready for the day. Pedestrians also hurried along, going about their daily routines, taking the children to school, setting out to work.

And there in the center lay the tank. It looked to be in poor shape, the steps leading to the water broken and strewn with plastics and remnants of food. People lay sleeping on its steps, nuzzled by geese hoping to find a morsel or two in the folds of the their blankets. A child defecated on the steps and his mother washed his bottom, and then washed his stool down a few steps below, a little beyond her vision’s periphery. A man cleared away some of the garbage from the rim of the tank, enough to let him collect a cup of water with which he brushed his teeth, spitting it back into the water’s dirty foam after he was done.

Despite the filth and squalor, the tank still maintained a quiet dignity as it lay shaded by the umbrella of ancient trees, lent no doubt by the story of its origin inscribed on a plaque at one end. As we read about its past we stepped back even further back in history, the tanks’ renovation in the sixteenth century, and its construction in the eight century, and then back into mythological time, when the Lord Ram pierced the earth with his arrow on this very spot to release a spring of fresh water, hiding underground.

Stories are told and retold to remember memorable events, and mythologies are built around miraculous happenings. Looking at this fresh water tank, it is easy to see why the spring, why this spot would be deified. Having a fresh water spring that survives on this tiny sliver of earth surrounded by the Goliath salty ocean seems nothing short of miraculous but finding this underground spring seems even more incredible. It is a testament to human kind’s intelligence and ingenuity, the godlike ability in us.

Today, with the wounds from the past year still not healed, the blood not yet washed away, we must remember that this land of Mumbai is a special land, and a sliver of hope runs through it. And, more importantly, that its inhabitants have within themselves the ability to make manifest an intelligence that will lead us from darkness to light.

Wishing you all a New Year filled with fresh hope to bring about positive change in our lives and the world. May the intelligence within each of you shine forth dispelling fear and insecurity, and may you live this year with courage and wisdom.

What she said. Thanks Athena for expressing it so well.

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- January 12, 2009 8:49 PM // Permalink // India

Doubtsourcing: The Sitcom

I'd first heard about doubtsourcing, the comic strip, in a techcrunch writeup. I think all desis with a) an internet connection and b) a funnybone are well familiar with the output from Badmash and this latest offshoot from one of the core group members, Sandeep Sood, seemed to have hit the ground running. Then I stopped hearing about it and the website stopped responding (it's down as of the time this post was written).

What happened? I figured with the US recession going global and a rise in forecasts for the decline in outsourcing, perhaps Sandeep's strip itself had fallen victim to the ongoing trends.

I was wrong. I caught this ad on craigslist looking for voice talent:

Male Voice Actor needed for Animated Sitcom (berkeley) Reply to: gigs-940863403@craigslist.org [?] Date: 2008-12-01, 12:56PM PST


Badmash.tv is an animation studio working on its first animated sitcom, called Doubtsourcing.

We are looking for a voice actor to play the part of Jamie.

Further web hunting revealed a slew of such ads, a Sepia Mutiny comment:

As for the studio, we are working on an animated sitcom called Doubtsourcing (should have the pilot done in a few months)

and this interview:

His most visible success, though, has been the "Doubtsourcing" comic strip and it caught the attention of a venture firm in the Valley. His potential investors suggested that "Doubtsourcing" be developed into a full fledged animated series, a sort of The-Simpsons-meets-The-Office. With Badmash already making a foray into developing an animation studio in India, it seems like a natural progression.

I found the last part of the interview to be particularly interesting:

Where do you plan to air the show? Here in the US or in India?

SS: That is an open question. We are negotiating with a few different channels including the more mainstream ones like Warner. There’s also the option of bypassing TV altogether and going straight to the web.

The italics are mine. With pundits proclaiming online video to be the killer app this year (and my day gig reliant on that fact :-), the timing for a straight to internet play couldn't be more appropriate. The recent successful VC rounds of sites like funnyordie and jibjab show the interest in generating online original humor content. There are plenty of risks with this type of endeavour, however, particularly when relying on content to go viral. As Sandeep noted himself when commenting on another piece:

There’s a ‘Jib-Jab’ effect to these types of animations. Your first piece is totally fresh, delightfully amateurish, and funny as a result. Then, unless you come with something totally new, it’s hard to recapture the same buzz again.

This is something we’ve learned first hand at badmash - if you’re trying to be purely viral, you can’t ride the same idea or style for too long.

With the badmash crew leading the way in this space for the desi diaspora, it'll be fascinating to track their approach to promoting the latest incarnation of doubtsourcing, their revenue model and, most importantly, how well it catches on. Fingers crossed. One thing is true though: with fiascoes like Satyam's going on right now, there certainly won't be any lack of material or interest on this topic!

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- January 10, 2009 7:44 PM // Permalink // Diaspora , Humour , Technology