DesiPundit » City Lights

Mr. Shiv Sainik Vs. Stupid Common Man

Patrix — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:44:01 +0000

Your agitation against Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Gandhi, Mukesh Ambani and Sachin Tendulkar turned out to be as riveting as a deflating balloon. Nobody paid heed to your leader’s call, least of all we Bombay /Manoos /who you have turned into a kind of experimental guinea pigs in the political laboratory. What kind of wishy-washy, spineless, sloppy fellows are you! Sorry, Mr Shiv Sainik, the nation did not want an apology from SRK – far from it. They just want good, edge-of-the-seat cricket.

Ek Marathi Manoos shares a letter from his colleague, the Stupid Common Man written to the Thackeray family and Shiv Sainiks.

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BlogCamp Mumbai 2010

IdeaSmith — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:17:38 +0000

BlogCamp Mumbai 2010 will be held on 20th February at Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering (MPSTME), VileParle. Participants can register here.

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84 Things NOT to Do in Bombay!!

Nikhil — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:24:55 +0000

9. Look smart while visiting Chor Bazaar

10. Avoid asking the Sandwich wallah on Dalal Street for market tips

11. Stand in front of Amitabh/shahrukh/salmaan’s house — u look stupid and its waste of time

12. Baba Bengalis are neither Baba’s or Bengalis they are all perverts and thugs

13. Visit sleazy Video Parlours and get caught in a raid

14. Get excited and start jumping when someone offers you Paanch ka Dollar, it’s just a tiny 5 Rupee coin

15. Go for a Shiv Sena rally in hope for a Free Vada Pav and Shiv Sena Banian

Bombaylives has a list of 84 things not to do in Bombay.

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Bangalore: Street Harassment

Nikhil — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:00:10 +0000

As I approached, he came towards me slowly in the scooter. My defences were fully up, of course. Any woman’s would have been. He stopped in front of me and asked, “Can you tell me where Fifth cross is?” And here, stupidly, SO stupidly I’m cursing myself for it over and over again, I let my guard down. Poor lost guy, I thought. And here I was suspecting him of stalking me. But fifth cross? This colony doesn’t have a fifth cross, does it?

Jade says all is not well in Bengaluru.

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Is Delhi actually that dangerous?

Nikhil — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:19:38 +0000

Never mind what Delhi’s apocalyptic news media says. The real question is this: what’s keeping a city of poor, jealous, sexually-frustrated young men from unleashing their aggressions and turning Delhi into Gotham City?

Our Delhi Struggle asks if Delhi is that dangerous?

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Uproar In Response To Callous Behaviour At Wall Project

IdeaSmith — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:25:40 +0000

Things at The Wall Project, a citizen initiative organized by BMC to beautify Mumbai took a strange turn when less than 24 hours later, Bollywood movie posters were pasted over completed paintings.

I’ve called for a boycott of the movies Aladin, Canvas, Gair and London Dreams whose posters caused the uproar. Asfaq writes an open letter to the producers of the same movies asking them to educate the distributors in question. Twitter is also abuzz with outrage and various suggestions to respond.

In each of these ways, the social media community is asking for a response from the citizens in order to prevent such apathy and insensitivity in the future.

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Madras,Chennai

Nikhil — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:43:33 +0000

The Chennai I remember was a Chennai before the flyover days. These days, all over the city, you either see flyovers, or you see flyovers being constructed. TTK Road, GN Chetty Road, Kathipara…name it, and you have flyovers! What the hell? The beloved city of my childhood is gradually disappearing under a maze of flyovers, grade separators and bridges. So much so that, the original bridges across the Cooum and the Adyar are incidental today!

Amrutha finds that the Madras of yesterday has disappeared.

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Diwali: Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

IdeaSmith — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:10:38 +0000

Anaggh Desai has a unique way of celebrating Diwali, by doing something tangible and relevant. It is called ‘Putting your money where your mouth is’ and supports the cause of education for the girl child, via Diwali greeting exchanges.

With the support of my wife & daughter I have decided to contribute the following amounts to my wife’s favorite charity “Educating the Girl Child”:

Gift received Rs. 100/- per gift

Blog Comments Rs. 5/- per comment

SMS Wishes 0.50/- per text

Wishes on FB/Twitter/Email 0.25/- for every wish (Not Spammers:))

This is for the dates between 15 – 19th October 2009.

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Bloggers For Toss

IdeaSmith — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:31:34 +0000

Chhavi and Rajesh tap into the social media to promote the movie ‘Toss’. They are offering free tickets to bloggers who might be interested in reviewing the movie.

The number to text is +91.90.0434.3778.

Remember to send
1. your name,
2. blog’s URL, as well as
3. time & venue you want to see Toss.

All reviews are welcome.

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Homophobia

IdeaSmith — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:29:07 +0000

Section 377 may have been overthrown but Sam says that homophobia is still thriving. Coming out of the closet still isn’t as feasible when you consider the stigma that people still carry in their minds and the very real attacks on the gay community.

Last week in Delhi, an openly homosexual man was slashed by a guy representing a religious group, in front of everyone at a gay party. (You can read the write up of the victim’s partner here.) Even though homophobia was rampant in Indian society, the recent advancements in the gay rights movement has angered many and in turn raised this hatred to an entirely new level.

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BlogCamp 2 Pune

IdeaSmith — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:32:47 +0000

After two successful BlogCamps in Pune and Mumbai respectively, BlogCamp 2 comes to Pune on the last Saturday of this month. The organisers, Tarun, Priyanka and Abhishek have already attracted a large number of participants as well as promised speakers. Come sign up for the fun!

BlogCampPune is a FREE unconference focusing exclusively on blogging, organized by bloggers for bloggers. It‘s built upon the principles of the famous BarCamp (ad-hoc unconference) focused on sharing, learning and new ideas. This is going to be an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction between attendees. Any blogger who wants to contribute is welcome and invited to join. In the spirit of BarCamp, if you attend, be prepared to present something (even if it’s just 10 minutes).

Date: 27th June 2009

Time: 10:00AM to 5:00PM

Venue: SICSR (Symbiosis) 7th Floor Atur Center, Gokhale Cross Road, Model Colony Pune Near the OM Super Market

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Black & Yellow Chronicles

Nikhil — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:55:18 +0000

“I am from Jaunpur sir. And you?”
“Lucknow.”
“Lucknow? Ha! I knew it by the way you spoke! You are a good man sir. Not like the stingy chu***as who blow up thousands in the hotel, but sweat when a cabby asks for a 100 rupees extra.”

Rahul shares his conversations with a Mumbai cabby.I am waiting for the rest in the series.

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Mumbai Urban Planning Missteps

Patrix — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:00:00 +0000

I just signed a petition against the proposed revamp of Rani Bagh, the city’s largest botanical garden. If the plan goes through, many of the 3000 trees of 227 species will be felled to make way for an aquarium, theatre, car park and staff quarters. The cost of the operation will be about 500 crores, much of which will not be recovered even if ticket prices are increased enormously.

Girish Shahane writes on the bone-headed priorities of the Mumbai administration in terms of urban planning for the city.

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Something Khus

IdeaSmith — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:18:24 +0000

Deepa goes attar-shopping with a friend and is enchanted by an aromatic grass called Vetiver (also known as Khus).

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Dsplaced

IdeaSmith — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 06:16:13 +0000

Home is a word that means as many things as there are people in this world. And each time you move, those meanings take on new avatars and shape-shift. Dsplaced is a scrapbook of different people’s experiences on being uprooted and that complex emotion called nostalgia.

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How Green is Our Bazaar?

Patrix — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:30:00 +0000

The city’s fruit and vegetable markets may not be today’s ideal urban selling spaces but they have been environments that are more respectful of resource use and have also been patterns of development that have had sustainable characteristics. Therefore, we need to be more aware of how green the bazaar is and why.

Kiran Keswani examines the sustainability of Indian bazaars (with photos) and raises questions on efficiency of waste management in such spaces.

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Olives and Cypresses

Patrix — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:25:07 +0000

I had expected to see a small medieval town in the city centre, but what surprised me was the size of the old city. It is huge. I wanted to see the Piazza del Campo, the famous square where the annual Palio horse race takes place. As we walked on and on, there was no sign of this square but arrows on the streets indicated that it was further ahead. Finally when we did come to it, it was one of those “A-ha” moments that you never forget in your life.

Urban planners call it the explosion of space. Sunil travels to the Vinci, the birthplace of (duh!) Leonardo Da Vinci and Siena in the Tuscany region of Italy.

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Lovable Strays

Patrix — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:54:33 +0000

Last year many strays that I knew passed away. Most of them were dogs that were old and had lived a good life on the street. They were looked after and cared for by someone. It becomes very tough when you lose a pet and for me it has always been tough to lose so many that I have known over the years. All these were strays that I had interacted with and grown very fond of.

Abodh at Straying Around remembers the lovable stray dogs that he has known over the years on the streets of Mumbai. Any dog lover knows how it feels to lose a pet even if didn’t live in your home.

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Fearless Karnataka

Nikhil — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:34:43 +0000

Anita at Bangalore Metblogs writes about the Fearless Karnataka campaign.

Seven attacks in ten days. In response to the recent attacks against women in the city of Bangalore, many individuals and organsiations have come together to form FEARLESS KARNATAKA or Nirbhaya Karnataka to reclaim public spaces and promote safety for all.

Karnataka is safe? DP had earlier featured a post on some of the recent attacks.

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BAware

Patrix — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:00:00 +0000

BAware is currently focusing on the issue of the unprovoked violent attacks on various individuals and groups in Karnataka, specifically Bangalore, starting January 2009. If you have been a victim of an attack or wish to report one, please get in touch (see Contacts & Resources page).

Swaroop CH points us to BAware, a website tracking incidents related to unprovoked attacks on individuals specifically women in Bangalore.

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