DesiPundit

Gopal takes his camera down to Magadi Road and brings back an eyeful of the statues in the temple.

Apoo packs his bags for a visit to India and finds to his incredulousness that they’re empty!

Me: What do you want from here?
Mama: Lets see! I dont have a laptop and I have been thinking of getting one.
Me: Now you talking! What config?
Mama: But then, I have a PC at home, a PC at work. I doubt I am going to log on in the train. Whats the use of a laptop? Do this, just gimme cash!

Me: Dad?
Dad: What time does your flight get here?
Me: What do you want from US?
Dad: Nothing beta, you come here!
Me: Do you realize the customs guy is going to be verrry disappointed when I walk through with empty bags?
Dad: Last time I was visiting you, I forgot my jeans there. Can you carry those?

Anyone need anything from the U.S.? He seems to have plenty of room in his luggage!

Stuart makes his first visit to Dharavi and writes about his experience. I always thought, the Middle class in India referred to the consumer class who shop and window shop at Malls,spends 350 bucks for a movie in a multiplex and drives a Getz or a Swift. He thinks on a different route.

I grew up with the stereotype of two cars in the suburbs and a color TV. This isn’t what middle class means in India, even though they now talk about a middle class approaching 250 million. It isn’t the middle class we know and yet this group is changing everything and on the cusp of India’s change and boom.

While I am all set for my trip to India, I can’t help but think of the rising “mall-culture” in the country. Sameer has mixed feeling about the increasing importance of malls today

It feels jolly good… Everything stacked …is beyond the purchasing power of the lower middle class and the toiling masses, so effectively the poor – and ugly India — is shut out from the air-conditioned limits of the great Indian malling experience. The middle-middle classes come in their droves. Sari-clad housewives carefully stepping onto the escalators. Families of six. Mostly touch and feel. Check the tag and let go. They are happy hopping shops.

Vijay believes that in spite of facing competition from international brands, Indian stores are doing well

Amongst all the malls coming up, and the tenant strategy, I am most impressed with Pantaloons. These stores belong to the Future Group, and they seem to have taken a decision to promote only Indian or House Brands. I find some of their house brands pretty good and well priced compared to the international ones. The others, who are also doing well, are Shoppers’ Stop and Lifestyle. I have seen these stores improve their layouts over the past two years, and introduce new products and variants constantly…

Nita takes pictures of Mumbai from the air.  What I like about them is that she explains what each place is. Very helpful for someone like me who is hopeless at correlating maps with the view while I am landing (Google  Satellite images notwithstanding).  Which road could that be, again?

This one was taken as we approached Vashi. You can see Vashi bridge on the right of the picture and I have drawn a red arrow to point out Vashi station.

With the death toll rising in Myanmar, Alaphia remembers India’s response to the tsunami in 2004.

…Jayalalithaa’s government did an outstanding job clearing bodies, cordoning off the beach, shifting people into temporary shelters, providing food and sanitizing the disaster zone … For someone whose default position is to be anti-establishment this was a refreshing revelation – when push comes to shove the government can deliver. Some of the smartest bureaucrats in Tamil Nadu were on the job leaving the western press a little incredulous that India remained disease free and the situation hadn’t descended into anarchy.

Kerala Tips is of the opinion that the arrival of private companies has improved the efficiency in certain public sector and government departments. In Kerala, instead of improving the standards of government run projects, politicians are trying to destroy the private sector.

But yet politicians in Kerala are very allergetic to the concept of efficient private sector companies. Many in Kerala view companies such as TATA as enemies. In contrast, TATA is a very reputed company in north india mainly because of the ethical way they conduct business and because they give jobs and livelihood for millions of Indians.

Take another example - Government schools are notoriously hopeless. Even poor people take loans to send their children to private schools! Why? - sending your children to government school is something that will fill you with horror! Instead of improving government schools, politicians are trying to take over private schools and to destroy them as well. Oh God! the perils of democracy…

Indra writes that B Schools are causing inequality and in the pre-MBA crazy world, education was not this commercialized. Is an MBA required to be a good manager?

I consider the craze for MBA education as damaging. The best brains, if the success in the entrance examinations of these institutes were a criterion, trained through a costly coaching system, are vying to enter IIMs. Even IITians and other professionals including medical graduates after four years of rigorous purely technical education prefer to complete the MBA course before entering the job market. Those who fail to get in the IIMs or some of the better-known B-schools of the country go to US. As per one estimate, between 10 and 15% of US B-school graduates are of Indian origin (this is true of B-schooll faculty too). Many who went to US for MS in engineering subjects as getting financial assistance was easier for that, later switched over for a MBA course.

Bongop’o'ndit isn’t too impressed with Singapore Airlines, (or with airlines in general..)

The so-called ‘warm towels’ handed out were regularly quite cold, and smelly (not the good smell). In one trip, half of the passengers got the towels before take-off and half later. Then there was the irritating habit of serving spirits only with the meal; pre-dinner Gin and Tonics had to be asked for (the horror!). The worst part was their highly touted personal entertainment systems.

Anand reviews The Forbidden Kingdom and recommends it highly. Starring both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, it certainly appeals to avid martial arts fans.

The film has none of the high philosophy and romantic lyricism of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; neither does it have the dark, brutal undercurrents of films like Old Boy and Romeo Must Die. It is also not a classic kung fu chopstick film in that it does not have extended fight sequences in various kung fu styles and the standard ingredients of revenge and retribution. What it does have is good fun, great fights, and two of the biggest stars of contemporary martial arts displaying their mastery.