Why are Gujaratis so cheap?

Kem cho sucka? As the story goes, "The operators of a small roadside café in the mountains of Norway suddenly found themselves occupied by two busloads of tourists from India over the weekend. The only thing they bought from Støfring was one cup of hot chocolate and some bananas." The Indians, presumably Gujarati, began to use the kitchen to warm up their own food. The one consolation in this story is that they brought their own plates so at least this guy didn't have to wash up after these folks. This Norwegian cafe owner has definitely managed to get some good public relations material out of this so it's probably helped his business, but it's less than ideal that our brethren act so miserly especially when traveling abroad.

My serious question to everyone is Why are Gujaratis so darn cheap?

Btw, I know the story never says that they were Guju. But after conferrring with friends, Gujarati and non-Guju, it was unanimous that this is def a Guju bunch?

10 things I hate about India

Frenchman bitches about India. Claude Arpi makes some decent points in his column about the 10 things he hates about India. It pains me to give any compliments to the French because of my general disdain for them as an Indian-American. While it is annoying when a foreigner writes about things he hates, some of his points are valid and well-known to anyone Indian or who has visited the country. Although 10 things I'd change about India would be a better title.

His hates in order are:

1. Power cuts - agreed
2. Indian babus aka the bureacrats - agreed
3. No access to historical documents - agreed although I don't really care
4. Discrimination against the white tourist - I'll address below
5. Paranoia about maps - weird but if true, I'd agree
6. Photographs - agreed. Had my camera seized at Jodhpur airport when snapping a pic with me and my masiji. She presented some national security risk which I was unaware of.
7. Politicians - agreed. Hopefully when the current group of monkeys die of (who represent the majority), the new young breed may be better.
8. Neglect for the environment - I'll address below
9. Traffic - agreed
10. Corruption - agreed

As for discrimination against the white tourist, I think more former colonies should learn from India and do this. This is basically a tax for prior barbarism that countries like France, England, Portugal and Spain executed on the rest of the world. And to a degree payback (albeit immaterial) for the riches plundered from the likes of India, China, Africa, etc. It's amazing that jewels from India remain on display in London. That's like me stealing something from someone and then displaying it and charging others to see it. Why you wouldn't return something you've stolen is beyond me. Unfortunately, the Japanese and the like all get roped into this price increase but in a world where white people have been amongst the biggest thieves, murderers, etc, paying a little extra to chill at the Taj or Oberoi is hardly commensurate payback. Plus, white tourists pay more and actually get better service than Indians staying at the same places. The exact opposite as I recall when flying Air France. I sat in business class and was treated with disdain from the snotty French who exhibited more overt racism than I've seen in a long time.

As for care of the environment, Claude again is a bit wrong. The west represents very little of the world's population but consumes a huge amount of its resources. Global warming and the like is not due to India, but to the USA and other western countries who've developed with little regard for the environment. Now that India is emerging on the world stage, why should they be held to a different standard? Because the western countries have already done their damage and now it's wrong. I'm not advocating that ruining the environment by India is a good thing, but one should keep things in perspective. The current environmental predicament the world finds itself in is not due to the developing world but due to the West and their wreckless policies of the past and even today.

Delta to start flying direct from NYC to Mumbai - Hallelujah

Finally, a direct flight from NYC to Mumbai. Let's hope that the Delta staff aren't as rude to Indians as the Air France folks. I'll be sure to fly this at some point and let everyone know. And hopefully Delta can figure out a way to make money on this route since they seem incapable of running a profit-generating business.

Emraan Hashmi wants to kiss in the air - For 2006, this Hindustan Times piece wins the award for absolutely most retarded subject matter

Newspapers appealing to the lowest common denominator. I like Emraan Hashmi. He is a terrible actor and his movies suck but usually there is a good song or two. And Emraan gives me hope that a slightly above average looking dude like myself can get into Bollywood and make out with some certified hot-ass Indian girls.

That said, this article which appeared in the Hindustan Times is so utterly useless, I had to say something. The crux of the article is about the fact that our boy Emraan has had some provocative kissing scenes (by Indian standards) on land and underwater and how he is looking forward to doing a kiss in the air. This is news?

First of all, when Emraan kisses on land, he is kissing "in the air" but basic facts aside, why would a supposedly decent newspaper publish utter crap like this? The serial kisser as the press likes to call him had this to say -- "I have kissed on land and have done similar things under water too (in the film Gangster). Now all that is left is doing the same in air. I think the best way would be doing it by hanging from a hot air balloon," states Emraan. Great quote E.

BTW, why is kissing so taboo in Bollywood? As a country, it's obvious we like to have sex. Why the prude view on kissing?

P.S. Malaika Sherawat is pretty damn hot.

The Great Khali shows us Indians are good at sports after all - Fake sports

If only professional wrestling was an Olympic sport. 7'3" Dalip Singh recently joined World Wrestling Entertainment as the Great Khali. While his profile on the WWE's website is full of ridiculously stereotypical lines like "The Great Khali has walked the jungles of India unafraid of pythons and wrestled White Bengal tigers" we are proud to see a fellow Desi kick some ass even if it's not real ass-kicking going on. Since we can't seem to get our act together or possess athletic talent for major sporting events like the Olympics or World Cup, my hope is that India will at least have the heavyweight champion of a fake sport to call their own. Whatcha gonna do when the Great Khali runs wild on you?!?

Mumbai residents say fuck you very much

Mumbai is the rudest city on the planet. A recent survey deemed Mumbai the rudest city in the WORLD. "The survey used three tests to take stock of the politeness factor -- dropping papers in a busy street to see if anyone would help, checking how often shop assistants said "thank you", and counting how often someone held a door open." Is anyone surprised at this? Mumbaites are always in a rush. To go where is unknown.

Desi Diarrhea goes big time - Our first advertisement

Advertising my blog - that's so un-bloglike. So last week, I plunked down $75 to buy some advertising for Desi Diarrhea. Cuz I genuinely think people should read the crap (pun intended) that I'm writing. And so I bought a spot on The Crorepati. Some of my blog brethren have said that what I'm doing is wrong -- that blogs should just be found by people and hold their attention and build loyalty that way. I think my blog brothers are just jealous cuz they can't afford to advertise their pathetic blogs else they would. And all I can say is that my blog got an extra 200 unique visitors this past week so it's working. My goal of giving Diarrhea to the world is slowly coming true.