Malayali weddings are a popular topic here at DP (1,2, 3, 4) and here is one more from Jade.

And so ended my first mallu wedding in seven years. Probably my last proper mallu wedding too, come to think of it. I’ve heard that the high society weddings in Kerala have become ‘modern’ – the groom wears a sherwani and the bride wears a lehenga. And the women wear shiny saris with thousands of gold sequins on them, instead of proper Kancheepuram silk saris. Other people ape the West. We are different – we ape the North.

“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.

Jade writes about the changing face of Trivandrum,old mansions and houses giving way to apartments. Trivandrum rising,as she puts it.I liked this one.

However, she has her own troubles. A builder has bought three plots of land behind her house, and is planning to erect an apartment block there. She says, “You know, this house has always been so nice to live in. It has always had excellent sunlight and wind throughout the day. Why, I never even switch on the fan most days! And I’ve never faced any water shortage – never! But once this building comes up, all those days are over.”

1) Did you acquire an H1 visa in the last 6 months? How was your experience?
2) I am working as a researcher in biology. This means I deal with bacteria and viruses at work. My current work is with HIV. Will I be a candidate for additional security checks? It took my co-worker about 2 months or more to get her first H1 visa stamped. Is this typical?

I think lot of DesiPundit readers live in the U.S. working on H1-B visas and are always eager to dish out advice on their (hellish?) experiences with legal immigration. Please chime in with your feedback to this plea for help; I’m sure Crystal Blur will have a thank-you party afterward.

Kraz is back from the Avial concert in Bangalore.He is still in high spirits.

In that one moment, the Malayalis owned the pub. No more faking, no more protesting, no more complaining. They were there, there was a kick-ass rock band from Kerala on the stage, the lead singer had just addressed them in Malayalam and was about to start singing in it as well, and everything was just the way it was supposed to be.
All kinds of madness broke loose. The boys in the death metal tees, who till then sounded like they had escaped from a Fort Minor video, were waving their hands up in the air shouting “Adi poli aliyaaaa!” The old man with a white beard standing next to me screamed “Polikyadaaa!”

PS:Avial is a popular Malayalam rock band

Improvements in health facilities have given us extra years to live but neither our social system nor our infrastructure have changed enough to help us use these extra years purposefully. Traditionally old age was a period spent in pursuit of religious activities, accumulating good Karma away from the demands of the material world. But what about those who are not interested in such pursuits? They have a choice of baby sitting their grandchildren or watching unlimited hours of soaps, cricket or news.

Usha writes about ageing and says that old should stop being a bad word

Layman is enjoying the Hyderabadi summer.He vents his frustration at the electricity department.

The electricity board in Hyderabad is very understanding of its people’s needs. On Saturday the power went off at ten AM. It returned at 3.30 Pm just when the match was above to start. See what they achieved there? People who wanted to see the IPL could not complain now and they had their five and half hours of power cut. Wow John wow!!!

Sam has a deeply personal account of coming out to his mother about being gay. It should serve as an inspiration for gay people who still languish in the closet. His post also links to several popular references to gay people. I like how he used all of them to provide his mother with context.

“So what are you? A man or a woman?”

“I’m still a man. But it’s that I don’t feel attraction towards gals. I feel that only to guys.”

“Is it because of watching all those Friends and Will & Grace?”

Don’t worry Rads, you are a lucky charm. You are like Mother Mary. Like Santhanalakshmi. Three kid mommy. Of course you are blessing-worthy. Nobody calls us and we are moms too!

Rads finds 20-year-olds falling to her feet at a desi party just because she is a mommy [hat tip: Mdeii].