Summary posts

Before I start off on the five posts I wrote this week, just a short summary of an old post which I wrote on house-breaking in India. House-breaking and burglary is on the rise, and I thought I would refresh that post here.

Indian burglars get more savvy Today’s burglar is more literate, better equipped and frighteningly, more violent than ever before….Bungalows and luxury apartments often have high walls, trained security guards, alarm systems and even guard dogs but apartment buildings occupied by the middle-class are soft targets. To make it worse, middle class societies are poorly guarded…also security agencies in India are not always professional and hire people without verfication…details about robber profile, modus operandi…also tips given by the police to help people prevent crime…

Brilliant Award Week An award called the Brilliant Weblog Award is doing the rounds, and spreading plenty of blog love. I thought I would do my bit….

Seeing India through the eyes of Amul (pictorial) The Amul advertisements are well-known in India not just for being the longest running ad campaign, but because of their humour (puns are its forte) and their penchant of picking up on current events to bring home a point. Many of them pun on Hindi/English words…

The British and the Americans don’t like Marathi “chauvinism” Indianising old (British) names of roads and cities never stirred any fire in me although it arouses nationalistic fervour in some. I disapproved of the recent diktat of Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation (BMC) to make Marathi mandatory (no Hindi or English allowed) for all official documentation although Marathi is my mother tongue and I can read and write it. But my grumbling is one thing; foreigners grumbling another. If they can adjust to the lack of English in China or in France, surely they can adjust to it in India?

Muslim groups trying to contain radical elements in their community The Indian Mujahideen (said to be a branch of SIMI) has created a vast underground terror network in India, much like the Naxals have. It’s unnerving to know that terror camps are not out there somewhere in the deserts of Afghanistan or the mountainous regions of Pakistan, but in the jungles of India…I think it’s important that at least we the people are not suspicious of ordinary Muslims. The community is trying its best to contain the radical elements in their midst…

Calling gays criminals Treating gays as criminals is a 150 year old law bequeathed to us by the British and gays in India want the British to apologise for it…But are squarely to blame if even 61 years after independence we are incapable to seeing which law is reasonable and which one is not…However, gays in India have made their point and made it well. Told the Indian government and society that a law that treats gays as criminals has nothing to do with “Indian culture.” The British must be laughing at us for calling their Victorian culture our own “Indian” culture! It’s not just homosexuality, even hetrosexuality is considered “sinful” and couples hounded out of public parks. A night life is also considered a sin…and so is talking about sex…