2centsWala;546434In the annual Reader's Digest Wallet Test ( I think this link is for the year 2013 though didn't see any mention of the year) , an Indian city - Mumbai - was the second most honest city out of 16 cities across the world, with people returning 9 out of 12 wallets dropped.
Dear Sir, I found what I presumed was your wallet. It had a photo of a man with an address on the back. So I am writing to that address. It is a decent wallet. You must have had it for a while. Coach is not a bad brand at all. With good care, and not overstuffing, like you had been doing, it must be good for at least another ten years.
I found 50 US dollars in it, and some change. A few credit cards, a Visa, a MC and Kohls. A Citi Bank Debit card as well. And, if you ask me, too many miscellaneous bills and papers. Never heard of Kohls. I bet you had called your card companies and cancelled them already. If you hadn’t done that yet, don’t worry. I will cut them and toss them in the trash for you.
Your wallet will be put to good use. I will plan to use the money to go out to dinner with my boyfriend. We will perhaps buy some cheap wine, like we always do, and toast to your health and good fortune. Knowing all this would certainly bring your loss to a closure, I am sure. Have a nice day. The finder who’d be the keeper.
A friend posts the picture of a Madrasi cuisine serving on a plantain leaf.... What looks like a plantain leaf, under the food, is not from a tree. Notice that there is no spine in the leaf. It is extruded high density polyethylene. Recyclable. In the old old days, the plantain leaves would be tossed into a big feeding trough in the backyard for the cows to eat them. The leaves would'a been nicely spiced with the sambhar, yoghurt and even a smidgen of sweet payasam. Delectable, (very likley) for the cows.
After training themselves on wall posters, spiced with the paste that comes with it, the desi cows would probably do just as well with anything that is thrown at them. They may have evolved into omnivorous recycling machines. They had been eating such a variety of things, they could easily digest the poly ethylene and perhaps, produce a little more combustible, high hydrocarbon cow-dung. A win-win situation.
okonomi;578153Lots of Rain, Hilly terrain, volcanic soil.... are all in Kerala state in India. And flowers of a number of grand colors. In Japan we have the same thing, except there is no Pookkalam or Onam. I had pointed this out to a local friend. And then we perused a lot of pictures on the internet... here is one of them.... in miniature. The real article is six feet across. Lots more at the site. My friend immediately noticed the swastika at the center, and asked if this is done at a temple. Apparently not; but then, the sign of a swastika always conveys the sense of a Temple to a Japanese. All temples are marked with this sign on a map. Even the google-map has the same signs. One may check the Nippori neighborhood in Tokyo on Googlemap and see.
I live in a city that has a lot of temples. Each was built by some old regional lord, behind a home they had built for themselves. In the Shogun, and the latter Emperor era, it was customary for the regional fiefs to send a close relative to live at the capital, and be a guest. Each would bring along sufficient numbers in the entourage to warrant a large home-compound and a temple. They would all stay for six months, and then be replaced with another close relative +new set of attendants. In China the same system existed; but then, over there, they openly called it what it was. A system of holding a close relative hostage to impose control over the far flung empire. It was considered necessary for control.
In my neighbourhood, there is a main road with apartment blocks and a few large SFH's. And then there is an alley behind it, with lots of temples and each with its own cemetery. Some of the cemetery head-stones are quite ornate, sometimes, even a complete small temple with a roof and all. A few of them date back to the 1700's.
When hosting visiting work-colleagues from my country (), I'd have to always explain the swastika marks on the local maps, and go on about how there is no need to get nervous about it.
Oko Beating a dead horse here: but why are all the swastikas running in opposite direction ??? ( sorry just noticed this post)
BackToPavilion;591280Oko Beating a dead horse here: but why are all the swastikas running in opposite direction ??? ( sorry just noticed this post)
eh ? Orientals seem to have it left-handed. Who is doing it "opposite" is an open discussion. Wikipedia has a big writeup on this swastika subject. My theory is that the fellow who made the first mold for the orientals, copied it from the "west",i.e., India, and made the mold right-handed, and what it molded turned out to be left-handed.
The English translation of this book is "manga" styled. In a review for the Sunday Guardian, J.A.Singh wrote: [QUOTE]Stupid Guy Goes to India is a breezy tale that begins slowly (especially if you aren't enthralled by descriptions of a foreigner making his first acquaintance with spicy food) and becomes more involving as it goes along. But it also worked for me on another level. We are surrounded by self-congratulating India narratives these days ? even the ones that aren't explicitly about The Shining tell us that the rest of the world looks towards us with respect for our cultural wisdom, our glorious past, our economic future, our ability to manage social complexity, our graceful women. There is more than enough affirmation for those of us who need it. Amidst all this, it can be useful to read a book by someone from a nearby country who isn't particularly impressed by us, and who makes no bones about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/business/tata-renaming-zica-car.html Now we all know that TATA motors will rename the new ZICA automobile, because zika is the name of a virus (and fever) that affects the fetus, and makes the babies to be born with insufficient brain development.
Does TATA know what TATA means ? Tata's have been on display on page-3 of british tabloids for a long long time. Now there are no more tatas on page 3. No matter. For most of the world tata's are oh-so familiar. As soon as one is born, one gets introduced to tatas. And it is quite traumatic to get weaned off tatas. And eventually grown adults, likely those who had been weaned too early, take to page-3.
The most recent episode has to do with the discussion on[/URL] whether or not A complete Alcohol Prohibition [URL="http://www.hotstar.com/tv/neeya-naana/1584/alcohol-prohibition/1000086921"]is well advised. One group arguing for the complete ban, and the other group arguing against it.
I found ( a few Tamil-aware friends to help me) that the references to alcohol-consumption in Tamil are all pejoratives. Is this the same in other Indian Languages ? There are words like "sarakku", and "thaNNi", and these are obviously not the equivalents of cocktail, gin, champaign, or pinot noir. And certainly nothing to do with the aperitif before dining. The discussion seems to be centered on "drinking" as the habit of manual laborers in queue at a government liqor store, spending a significant part of their daily wage at the closest Tasmac Store in the Tamil Nation, buying the highest proof alcohol and gulping it down like a medicine to relieve their aches and pains from the day of manual labor.
What do forum members think about a daily drink, especially after moving back to des ?[/URL]
I happened to talk to this work colleague. She was happy about the weekend under the cherry blossoms partying. And then she told me about how her hubby felt about his siblings. He is number-2 among the siblings - boy-boy-girl-girl -- four kids. Apparently her hubby, boy-2, gets along fine with his sisters, but hates his older brother, the No.1 son of the family. The story goes that the parents sent boy-1 to college, even though he was a comparative dunce, and did not support boy-2 and asked him to go get a job. Boy-2 was a municipal employee (refuse collection) while boy-1 attended private college at enormous expense, and studied something rather useless. Eventually boy-1 gets some office job and leaves home. After dad passed away, and mom got too old/sick to take care of herself, DIL-1 did not want her (as tradition would demand it), but boy-2 took early retirement at 55 and went to live with mom, in her house in the country side. This went on for a few months or so... and then boy-1 decided (or persuaded by wife) that his younger brother might acquire the house+garden from the old mom. He retired when he turned 58, and decided to support old mom. Old mom kicked out the younger son. Younger son had to live under the support of his wife, the woman who was telling me her story.
Japanese parents had supported their sons with more money and opportunities than their daughters. Their first son is supposed to grow up, make good in life, and then support his parents in old age. Girls prefer not to marry the No.1 son of a family, because he'd be duty-bound to take care of his parents, and she'd end up with all the hard, dirty chores of the parents -- who sit home all the time, critique and complain. Quite often parents make a mistake in betting on the wrong son. Parents never seem to learn that the first one is a trial sample. They get good at it after one or two tries. The third or fourth child is the one they ought to bet on, and invest in.
Anyhow.... desis do the same as the Japanese. And it ends the same way. Expectations based on a crap shoot.
), I'd have to always explain the swastika marks on the local maps, and go on about how there is no need to get nervous about it.
