Indian Man beaten and Forced to Marry…

Monkey impersonator hired to scare monkeys in Lucknow train station

Mumbai perfumes our stinking mountains of trash…a nation trapped in the anal phase…

I don’t know what to say! The adage “don’t shit where you eat” doesn’t seem to impress our govt. Nope. They just spray their own shit with cologne and keep on munching. Talk about a nation stuck in the anal phase! We’re so delighted with our economic development that we happily throw shit out of the window, knowing that some poor naked human at the bottom of the rubbish heap will find a use for our grotty old toothbrush not to mention our used tampons. That’s some disgusting trickle-down. No one feels the least bit of shame for leaving traces of their waste about like a snail trail. People spit on the walls, shit on the street, blow snot into the bushes. At least this stuff washes eventually down the drain. But what disturbs me is how this idea of “outside” the home is seen as one gigantic rubbish bin, while inside the home people fastidiously take off their shoes and take great care not to trash things.

But its typical of the Indian psyche to have a total lack of civic concern. People worry about their own family and what happens in their living vicinity. What happens down the road matters only in so far as it is something new to talk about. This is how it is possible for crowds of people to hang about with their hands in their pockets while watching someone being stabbed or raped. Once the corpse is dragged away by the police they will whip out a can of air freshener while a sweeper is called over to wipe up the “mess” of blood and ooze left behind. People simply do not grow up with a sense of accountability for shared spaces. Its every man for himself.

And our waste habits seem to exhibit some almost primitive urge to mark territory and assert dominance using our fecal waste mixed in with our other more high tech refuse. Of course we leave our tom cat piss in the areas where we can- in the places where only the weakest of the human pack reside…and if any of them came to shit on our doorstep we’d lock them up or worse?

No of course not. We’d just spray them with perfume and send them on their way.

Authorities in Mumbai have begun spraying the city’s two biggest rubbish dumps with perfume to lessen the increasingly foul smell. “We’ve had lots of infant death and there is a high incidence of respiratory infections,” said Dr Rane.

India has found itself ill-equipped to deal with the mountains of plastic bags, electronic waste and even food that have found their way into the nation’s rubbish bins as a result of two decades of economic growth.

In Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, the population produces close to 8,500 metric tonnes of rubbish a day, most of which makes its way to the two sites.

“Being a largely rural economy most of our waste used to be bio-degradable,” said Prashant Pastore, an expert on waste management at Toxics Link, an environmental advocacy organisation based in New Delhi.

“The problem is our consumption habits have changed but our dumping habits have not.”

story from thenational

The World’s Oldest Man Dies in Rajasthan (another Indian world record lol…)

I found this strangely moving…I mean…perhaps it is a question of mind over matter? I mean, I think most of us assume we’re going to kick the bucket a lot earlier than this guy…but if you knew your body was going to be your home for that long…well personally it might encourage me to take better care of it…well I don’t mean to get all senti and stuff…but perhaps myths of immortality were just parables about longevity which defies logic…and maybe its the logic that kills you? I shall experiment. I’ll let you know in 70 years…stay tuned…

image and story from the telegraph

20 Aug 2008
Habib Miyan the world’s ‘oldest man’ dies in India

Habib Miyan played the clarinet in a maharajah’s orchestra before retiring 70 years ago.

However, there is much dispute over his actual age. Although he said he was 138 years old, his pension book showed him to be a mere stripling at 129 – and the Guinness Book of Records has been unable to verify his age at all.

Miyan, who lived in Jaipur in western India, had no birth certificate but has collected a state pension for decades. He once worked in the court of the king of Jaipur – Raja Man Singh, where he played in the wind section of the orchestra.

A crowd of thousands attended Miyan’s funeral – demonstrating the fame to which he had risen in the state of Rajasthan. He died after suffering fever and dysentery, his niece Munni told reporters.

Miyan sprang to the attention of the world in 1998, when a bank clerk called Rajesh Nagpal decided to look up the records of the venerable old man who had been collecting his pension for as long as anyone could remember.

Six years later he became one of the oldest people to make the pilgrimage to Mecca – a lifelong goal for the devout Muslim.

The visit was exceptional: Miyan, who had been blind for more than 50 years and suffered limited mobility, spent most of his time at home praying and telling stories to his enormous extended family of 140 people.

“If you treat your body well, the body will treat you well,” Miyan always said, according to a relative.

Yeti Hairs discovered in India! English Experts continue to examine…

Of course people (that is to say…the natives) have known about Yetis for ages, but until those English experts get their tests done no one is going to believe the locals…of course the English don’t believe in mythical creatures like we fanciful third worlders…….they don’t believe in fairy stories like say….ones about walking on water…turning water into wine…rising from the dead…that sort of thing…nah- never..

image from ILOVETHEYETI

The Condom Song (the tv ad for the mobile ring tone)

I’m sure you’ve heard about it so why don’t you have a listen, first hand? Catchy tune- 🙂

NEW DELHI (AP) _ A cell phone ring tone that sings “Condom, condom!” has been launched to promote safe sex in India, where condoms carry a strong social stigma and HIV and AIDS are growing problems, health experts said Tuesday. The a cappella ring tone features a professional singer chanting the word condom more than 50 times, a playful approach that public health activists hope will spark discussion and make condoms more socially acceptable.

from link

An infant girl with two faces is born in suburban Delhi…

image from link

I think she’s beautiful…but I can’t help worrying what her life is going to be like. The good news is she is being worshiped as a divine incarnation…one can only hope that she gets through life feeling like twice the woman, and that the people in her life manage to protect her from all the attention. Here’s hoping!

Manmohan Singh tells Advani to change his astrologers- lol-

So…the government hasn’t toppled, and to celebrate- Manmohan Singh “sympathizes” with Advani by calling him a old timer who’s been led astray by his astrologers:

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday took a sharp dig at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani saying he had made “at least three attempts to topple our government… but on each occasion his astrologers have misled him”.

“This pattern, I am sure, will be repeated today,” the prime minister said in his reply to the two-day debate on the vote of confidence in his government. The prime minister, however, could not deliver his speech due to repeated heckling by the opposition and copies of his address were distributed.

Recalling that Advani had repeatedly described him as the “weakest prime minister” and a “nikamma (useless) PM”, Manmohan Singh said with uncharacteristic vitriol: “At his ripe old age (Advani is 81), I do not expect Shri Advani to change his thinking. But for his sake and India’s sake, I urge him at least to change his astrologers so that he gets more accurate predictions of things to come.”

from newindpress

A Ghost Funeral: The Last Mughal King haunts Red Fort

story from Hindustan Times image from wikimedia

It is said that on many Thursday nights, a ghost procession led by the last Mughal king and his beautiful consort went around the Red Fort. The procession was possibly that of one of Zafar’s children who died at the hands of the British.

In the 19th century when hundreds of minor principalities had divided India, Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal king, was reduced to preside over the dwindling empire in Delhi. The last ruler of the Timurid Dynasty, he was the son of Akbar Shah II by his Hindu wife Lalbai.

A published account in media says: “The apparition of the King was of average height, with broad shoulders, long arms but unusually short legs. The queen was tall like the letter Alif, as graceful as a cypress tree, with long raven-coloured hair; she had a narrow waist and short feet fitted in sandals adorned with pearls, which glittered in the moonlight.”

The people witnessed to this ghost procession say, “The King always wore loose pyjamas and the queen invariably spotted a long, gold-laced gharara, with a golden cummerbund, which reached almost to the ground and rustled in the breeze.”

Both apparitions appeared to be grief-stricken, because of the sudden demise of their child. They walked along the procession in measured steps, almost regally. The King’s head always mournfully dropped on his shoulder.

While some part of Bahadur Shah’s opus was lost or destroyed during the unrest of 1857-1858, a large collection did survive, and was later compiled into the Kulliyyat-i Zafar. Zafar’s poetries were about love and mysticism, with Delhi as the backdrop. Some say since Zafar was in love with his writings and that he revisits his preserved writings in the moonlight.

Zafar’s gazal from bestghazals

Desi Monkeys have genes that can block HIV

A gene in Asian monkeys that may have evolved as a defence against lentiviruses, the group that includes HIV, has been identified by Harvard Medical School researchers.

The gene, TRIM5-CypA, is a hybrid of two existing genes, TRIM5 and CypA. The combination produces a single protein capable of blocking infection by viruses closely related to HIV.

This is actually the second time researchers have identified a TRIM5-CypA gene in monkeys. The other hybrid, called TRIMCyp, was discovered in 2004 in South American owl monkeys.

Normally, evolutionary biologists assume that similar DNA sequences, present in the same location in the genomes of two or more species, evolved only once.

In this scenario, the gene arises first in a common ancestor and is subsequently inherited by all the species that descend from that ancestor. In the case of TRIM5-CypA and TRIMCyp, this does not appear to be the case.

TRIM5-CypA was not found in monkeys closely related to the Asian macaques, and in fact, was not found in every macaque individual tested.

Likewise, owl monkey TRIMCyp was not found in any other species of South American primate. Researchers suggest that the two genes arose independently, once each in owl monkeys and macaques.

More tellingly, even though the protein sequences specified by two TRIM5-CypA genes are similar, at the DNA level it is obvious that the molecular events leading to formation of the two genes were different.

Evolutionary biologists refer to the acquisition of a similar adaptation in different species as ‘convergent evolution’, an example being the independent appearance of flight in both birds and bats.

The Harvard team’s genetic evidence indicates that the two TRIM5-CypA genes constitute an unambiguous and particularly striking example of convergent evolution.

That the process occurred at least twice during primate evolution suggests that the combination of the TRIM5 and CypA genes provided a strong evolutionary advantage to the individuals in which they originally appeared.

The study has been published in the latest issue of journal PLoS Pathogens, suggesting that AIDS is not a new epidemic.

story from link

Monkeys Get Married in Orissa

Several thousand guests have solemnized an elaborate Hindu wedding ceremony between two monkeys in India’s eastern Orissa state.

At the ceremony Jhumri, the two-year old monkey ‘bride’ sported a crimson red sari, a tiara of flowers and had her forehead smeared with sandalwood paste whilst Manu the ‘groom’ was his swashbuckling self, sporting only a chain and collar at a temple in Ghanteswara village, 125 miles from the state capital Bhubaneshwar.

In keeping with tradition, three-year old Manu accompanied by a band playing raucous music and hundreds of dancing guests was received formally by the bride’s family close to the marriage venue.

Her elaborately dressed ‘relatives’ intoned loud chants normal at a Hindu wedding and to the accompaniment of fireworks showered the brown-eyed groom with flowers as he approached the coy ‘bride’, lounging bewilderedly in her ‘mother’s’ lap to garland her.

Thereafter, a Brahmin priest completed the wedding rituals around a fire, considered sacred by Hindus.

“It was a unique experience for me. It was the first time I conducted a marriage between two animals. But I followed all the rituals that I do in human marriages”, priest Daitari Dash said.

The monkeys were then presented with gifts, mostly bananas and coconuts, but also a gold necklace for the bride donated by a local businessman.

“I feel as if my own daughter is getting married. I cannot bear the thought that she would not be with us anymore” Mamina, the woman who has been looking after Jhumri after her husband found her at a local temple, said.

Her ‘groom’ was caught in a neighbouring mango orchard by a couple who raised him as their pet.

After the wedding the couple, chained till now, were released by their owners and took up residence in a nearby park.

Monkeys are considered holy by India’s majority Hindu community that associates them with the god Hanuman.

Millions of Indians visit Hanuman temples every Tuesday and anyone trying to trap or scare off monkeys is frequently beaten up or chased away.

Killing the animals is out of the question and most people believe feeding the animals is propitious.

story from monkeys in the news

NRI Skeletons…trading in bones…

You may have noticed the slight skeleton fetish here at ROTD…well, here’s one more story I came across a little belatedly…

India has long been the world’s primary source of bones used in medical study, renowned for producing specimens scrubbed to a pristine white patina and fitted with high-quality connecting hardware. In 1985, however, the Indian government outlawed the export of human remains, and the global supply of skeletons collapsed. Western countries turned to China and Eastern Europe, but those regions produce relatively few skeletons. They have little experience producing display-quality specimens, and their products are regarded as inferior.

For 150 years, India’s bone trade has followed a route from remote Indian villages to the world’s most distinguished medical schools.

Skeletons aren’t easy to get. In the US, for instance, most corpses receive a prompt burial, and bodies donated to science usually end up on the dissection table, their bones sawed to pieces and destined for cremation. So most skeletons used for medical study come from overseas. Often they arrive without the informed consent of their former owners and in violation of the laws of their country of origin.

Now, 22 years after India’s export ban, there are signs that the trade never ended. Black-market vendors in West Bengal continue to supply human skeletons and skulls using the time-honored method: Rob graves, separate soft flesh from unyielding calcium, and deliver the bones to distributors — who assemble them and ship them to dealers around the globe.

Exports to North America are still small compared with pre-ban levels, but shipments are finding their way to American medical programs. Suppliers have ample incentive — it’s a lucrative business. The skulls on the ground before me, for instance, would fetch an estimated $70,000 overseas.

read more on the Desi business of grave-robbing in a long in depth account by journalist Scott Carney at wired.com

R.I.P. Appu Ghar and Bhoot Bangla

Well, if you grew up in Delhi this has to come as a big blow. No more bumper cars. No more dragon roller coaster. No more room with the funny mirrors. No more cotton candy and popcorn and thumbs up. No more dangerous ferris wheels. No more spinning tea-cups. And most importantly, no more Bhoot Bangla, riding through the dark tunnel with all the shrieking bats and skeletons. sigh. Watching this clip actually brought tears to my eyes. This place had so much history. This was a landmark in the history of so many New Delhi childhoods. Sure- the rides were cheesy- and the junk food probably made you sick- but for a little kid getting led around by your parents with a hyperactive imagination running rampant- the place was like heaven- full of the thrill of new rides to test your little limbs on and to see how brave you could get yourself to be with adrenaline pumping through your little veins and a maniacal grin on your greedy little face. Can we ride that one again? Well, like Campa Cola Appu Ghar is going to be another one of those phantoms from a landscape that no longer exists…makes one feel prematurely old and nostalgic. I have heard they may rebuild it in a different part of the city or in Rajasthan, but they plan to dump all the vintage theme park gear and opt for more trendy rides. Lets see what happens…The times-they-are-a-changing- too fast for my liking. I’m not ready to think of my childhood as having existed “once-upon-a-time.” Oh and what about the hundreds of Appu Ghar employees who have worked there for their entire lives? One of these days not so far away we’re going to wake up in India and discover we’re living in one giant shopping mall/office building/courthouse/train station – And the rich of this country are in such a god damned hurry to get there, that once they arrive they’re going to realize we’ve lost all sense of where we’ve been. But everyone will have a nice shiny new car so who will really give a fuck if the landscape leads to nowhere.

Last Ride at Appu Ghar:

Anyway…here are a few last pictures…

Appu Ghar, the country’s first amusement park, was opened on November 19, 1984. It got its name from the ‘Appu’ the mascot of the 1982 Asian Games. Beginning with 10 rides, it graduated to 24.

NEW DELHI: Nostalgia was the theme on the last day at Appu Ghar as people queued up to enjoy one last ride in the speeding roller coaster, amazing giant wheel, swinging Colombus Ship, Eerie Tunnel and the ghoulish delights on offer at the “Bhoot Bangla”.

Inaugurated on November 19, 1984 by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Appu Ghar, named after “Appu”, the dancing baby elephant mascot of the 1982 games, was dubbed the first amusement park in the country. At the expiry of its lease, it is now making way for a section of the Supreme Court that will house a library, lawyers’ chambers and offices. A part of it will be used by the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) to extend its metro station at Pragati Maidan as ordered by the apex court.

After Chanakya cinema, Appu Ghar is another landmark in the city closing down to pave way for new infrastructure. Visitors, especially kids and youngsters are heartbroken at the very thought of bidding farewell to their favourite haunt.

”I can’t believe they are closing down Appu Ghar. It is really sad because this is my favourite place and I always love to freak out here with my family. Even today, I have come here to celebrate my birthday.” Puja Gautam, a manager in an export house said.

”First it was the Chanakya cinema and now Appu Ghar. These are the places we associate our childhood with. We have grown up in these places. They are a part of Delhi’s charm, its history,” she added.

Five-year-old Tanvi, who came to the park with her parents, was surprised to know that Appu Ghar will be closed forever. ”Why is it closing Papa? This is such an entertaining place. Ask them not to close it.” she said innocently holding a pink candyfloss stick in her hand.

Dhruv, a student of Holy Heart School at Vijay Nagar said, ”though I am coming here for the first time I really like the place. It should not be closed. I am enjoying all the rides here especially the Bhoot Bangla and if today is the last day I want to spend whole day here.”

The closure of the park was long in coming, ever since the lease of International Amusement Limited (IAL), under whose aegis Appu Ghar is running, expired in 1999. The company had got 14.74-acre land from India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) way back in 1984 to run the park.

The park, which started with few rides such as “Bhoot Bangla” and bumping cars, gradually gained popularity across the country that it became imperative to have something similar in other cities.

Apart from the 250-odd-employees who will be losing their livelihood with the parks closure there are professionals from outside who will be seriously affected.

Sahil Bhatt of Patel Nagar is not an employee of Appu Ghar but he has been entertaining the crowd here from past one and a half year with his puppet show. ” I earn 1,000 to 1500 Rs daily by my puppet show. Now as the park is closing it will be a loss for me,” he said ruefully.

K Raj, a magician said,” I get Rs 400 per day for my magic show but from tomorrow I have to look for some other place.”

”There are about 300 employees in Appu Ghar – the people at the ticket counter, guards, those manning the rides. But nearly 1,000 people will be affected because the vendors here are dependent on Appu Ghar for their livelihood. What will we all do?” Ram Kumar, one of the guards at the entrance gate, said.

Nishant Misri, Assistant Manager at the Reebok outlet inside Appu Ghar said closure of this park will be a huge loss for them. ”With this outlet our income on week days is more than one lakh and on weekends it is between 30-40 thousand. Now, as we have to close this outlet we are offering a flat 50 per cent sale for clearing our stock.”

From the candyfloss being sold outside to the fearsome dragon rollercoaster to the swings of ‘My Fair Lady’, Appu Ghar forms part of fond memories for many a child and parent. Farewell, Appu Ghar.

from DNA

oh and here…well you can’t really see what it looks like inside but you can hear the familiar clatter of the tracks and catch one last glimpse of the neon painted goblins on the last legs of the bhoot bangla ride….I wish this was a better clip or that I’d managed to get back to Delhi for one last ride…

Desi Dude grows a Uterus…

or this is what his doctors suspected…actually he just misplaced his nuts…and this is why I have limited faith in the medical profession…I was once sent in for a full brain scan just because I had a few headaches…after fantasizing about a brain tumor for two days my doc suggested I just take some aspirin and avoid eye strain. Of course he charged me well for that scintillating piece of advice…

Take it Bitch!

(no they’re not humping- mr frog is saving mr mouse during the Lucknow Monsoon Floods of 2006! Still I think there’s an interspecies S and M Beatrix Potter book in the making.) image from link