Snoop Goes Bollywood in Singh is Kinng

No, I haven't lost it or given in to the ubiquitous Bollywood mash-ups
a.k.a. Masalas being churned out in the media. Even tho' The Big 'B'
and his son and daughter-in-law were accompanied by a spectacular crew
of dancers and other Bollywood celebs here in Houston recently
while on a world tour.

Elsewhere, Aug. 22 was the date for the opening of another blockbuster
which I never heard of but now will probably remember forever because
this one has Rapper/Hip-Hop King Snoop Dogg teamed up with
Akshay Kumar for the title track which was composed by U.K Bhangra
band RDB. And because my sister who lives in Long Beach, CA says the
Dogg may be seen walkin' his dog on the beach some evenings since that's
his 'hood. Anyway it seems here Snoop wants to show who's really da King
and turns out that Singh is ' Kinng ' most of the time. Maybe that's why
he's allowed to use more than one 'n' in 'King'. Or maybe it's a nod to the
Dogg who uses 2Gs to spell his moniker, a common practice among artists
in this field. I don't knnoww. Sharing this should make me feel more hip but
so far I'm not feelin' it. I am more than amused though, that this flick has its
own wiki and was filmed in Australia for the most part - since 'Singh' here
refers to an Australian mob boss. Really.

Raj Bhavsar. Tanned, Gets Bronzed

India can barely be mentioned in passing when it comes to the Olympics,
so when a story like this comes along I know it helps alleviate the
deflated egos of the self-styled biggest 'threat to China's World Dominance'.

Raj Bhavsar is that one in a million Indian-American, a gymnast who
successfully Bronzed at Beijing 2008 to put Houston, Texas and the
USA in the news once again. His very athletic Indian father Joe married
Kenyan-Indian Surekha, who attributes her husband's passion for Rowing
in this quote :

‘‘It is all due to my husband and his sporting background,’’
she says, adding, ‘‘He was keen that his sons shouldn’t be
typical Asian nerds but be good in sports too.’’

The last-minute alternate for Golden Gymnast Paul Hamm (who has
a hand injury) saw his road back to confidence complete after being left
out from the team for Athens 2004. As he turns 28 in September, he rightly
deserves the attention and praise he's getting. After you've watched the
YouTube video below,

go beyond the tan of his Gujarati heritage and deep into his mindset with this
Salon.com article

More from Beijing Olympics 2008 at Myxer

Preview Matt Damon on YouTube for One.Org

Mail from David Lane :

Dear Fred,

I hope you like it.

http://www.one.org/voices?id=484-3378371-Qmn2Mjx&t=1

For more than a year, ONE members have been trailing the presidential
candidates asking them to go on the record with their plans to combat
global poverty. Now we're taking our message to the airways with this
major new TV ad. The ad features Matt Damon with different Americans'
voices - among them Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain and Mayor Bloomberg.

Watch for it on TV and across the Internet starting Sunday, August 24th,
but add your voice and share the online video with your friends now.

After, you can learn more about this ad and movement here.

Thanks

David Lane, ONE.org

The Pepsi Boys

Aside from the fact that some of the laborers pictured here are underage, the other
thing that's astonishing is how they have to adhere to such low standards of quality
and cleanliness. I got these pics as an e-mail forward and the Getty watermarks make
them quite believable. When abroad, drink more Pepsi, folks. Then go get sick !

Roosevelt Residence Gets Meera's Anglo-Indian Touch

You know that old saying, "Behind every great man there's a great woman".
In this case, there was a great man sitting behind the woman in their classroom
at the Cathedral and John Connon school, Mumbai. He's an Indian, Vikram
Gandhi and she's Meera Teresa (Agarwal) Gandhi,

daughter of Irish mother Ellen Mary McCarthy and an Indian father,
Admiral Perbodh Nath Agarwal. That would make her an Anglo-Indian by birth.
The best of two worlds, Indian and Anglo-Saxon.

Now take these two out of out of their Indian upbringing, educate him at Harvard
and her at Boston U., and what you get is Credit Suisse's NY-based Managing
Director and Global Head of their Financial Institutions Group, right alongside
Meera the Humanitarian, Diplomat, Businesswoman, Socialite, Mother of three
and on and on....this lady seems to have plenty of time to be Superwoman not
only in the States but all over the globe. The best of two worlds, Indian and
Anglo-Saxon now gets globalized.

Like the Roosevelts, another power couple before them, these two often play
host to the famous, the wealthy and the power brokers of the world...and do it
in the same building as the Roosevelts. Yes, they purchased the famed Roosevelt
Residence on Manhattan's upper-crusty Upper East Side

for over $4 million, renovated it and now it's up for sale, for close
to $20 million as of Dec. 2007 ! According to her personal website, Meera
'knows every nut, bolt and screw' in the famed residence since she personally
oversaw the entire renovation and redecoration project. Being an avid collector
of Indian Art but highly aware of the society she has evolved into she has given
the place an unique ambiance that you cannot find elsewhere. One of the girls'
rooms has a roomful of assorted percussion instruments, the other girl has her
guitars and amps strewn all over while the son indulges himself in the
World Wrestling Federation and everything in between.

I caught an interview of Meera Gandhi on Pan Desi Prime Time via ColorsTV
but you can view direct YouTube coverage here.

If you want to learn more about the Eleanor Roosevelt Mansion -or buy it-
just visit Brown Harris Stevens Properties and tell them I sent you. I promise
I won't make a cent off the sale :-)

Isaac Hayes and Me. Really !

Imagine the man who made the long black leather jacket famous decades
before 'The Matrix', a musician, actor and towering presence in the world
of Blaxploitation films like 'Shaft'. A 'bad mutha' in my book ever since
I met him one day in the mid-'90s. The late Isaac Hayes.

Now imagine me, driving the streets of New York City with this man in the
back seat of my car (okay, my Limo) and I have the radio set to 'zero' volume
and he still recognizes the song as one of Al Green's. I wait outside on Greenwich
Street for hours as he records some tracks for his new album and then
when he emerges in the evening he introduces me to an additional passenger,
a statuesque Nubian- princess-looking type who is rather nice and friendly to me
and obviously in awe of The Man in the long black jacket. After all, she is
accompanying a legend while in the process of acquiring legendary status herself.
I drive them to the center of Times Square, the heart of NYC and I'm holding that
black jacket for this man, handing him a bottle of water to sip in between takes for
a magazine photoshoot he's doing with the long-legged lady, whom I get to stand
with and make small remarks about the weather (cold). She's 6' plus with the heels
so I literally look up to her from my 5'6'' frame. Throngs of passers- by are busy
taking their own NYC pics and doing their own thing and a few shout out in typical
New Yorker seen-it-all fashion, "Hey Isaac!" "You The Man!" "What's up, my Brother?!"

That was a day and a night to remember because that man was the late Isaac Hayes
and his leather jacket, and the lady posing behind him was Supermodel Roshumba,


most remembered for her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition cover.

I was treated in a friendly and respectful manner by these two and that's what I
took away at the end of a totally awesome day as a Limo driver in New York city.
That and the theme music from Shaft....

Getting Impatient Now

I have tried unsuccessfully for weeks to get into the Dashboard to create new posts and am always faced with a white page with no options to upload anything except type words. I know that Google somehow managed to get thousands of Blogs marked as 'Spam', deleted and then reinstated them. Looks like I'm stuck in between.
I can view my Blog and so can you but the missing functionality is beginning to get to me.
I suppose I'll be back to announce the sad demise of this Blog and the birth of the Son of Virtual Poona. One of these days....

RealAge Update

RealAge : My online Health advisors are Indian-inspired again

A Spice That’s Nice for Your Pancreas

Wake up your taste buds, and protect your pancreas while you're at it,

with some Indian food this weekend. Or try a Thai dish.

Turmeric -- the spice that gives curry and other Far Eastern fare its

strong, distinctive flavor -- may lower your risk of pancreatic cancer.

So find that takeout number.

It's Good to Be Yellow
Curcumin, the yellow stuff in turmeric, may do in tumor cells. When

researchers added the substance to cancerous pancreas cells, production

practically shut down -- thanks to a clampdown on cytokines, chemicals

linked to tumor growth and cell survival. (Find out why Indian food

after a workout may make you feel a whole lot better.)

Pancreas-Protective Foods
When you want a healthy, happy pancreas, you've got plenty of foods to

choose from. Try these, for instance:

• Onion and arugula. They're darn tasty on sandwiches
• and pack these special cancer-clubbing flavonols.
• Fish, eggs, and poultry. Find out why these are better
• choices for your pancreas than processed meats.
• D-fortified cereals and dairy. This key vitamin could really give
• you protection. Find out the optimal amount in this tip.

Recipe Corner
This scrumptious EatingWell recipe, Potato Curry with Peas, can
complement your main course or make a satisfying (and heart-healthy)
main meal. Either way, it's sure to please!
RealAge Benefit: Making healthful substitutions when cooking can
make your RealAge 3 to 12 years younger.

3 Feel-Better Postworkout Foods

What's the best snack to grab after a major workout? How about a bowl

of whole-grain cereal, a bite of Indian takeout, or a big nonfat latte.

Each nosh option has a special ingredient that may help your body

recover better and nip postworkout pain in the bud.

The 3 Cs
What, exactly, do these snacks have that others might not?

The three Cs: carbs, curcumin, and caffeine. A carb-rich snack like

cereal can help you overcome fatigue by restoring glycogen -- that

stuff your muscles use for energy. Curcumin, a substance found in the

Indian spice turmeric, may help quell muscle inflammation. And caffeine

from coffee may help block muscle-pain-producing substances.

(Coffee has other health benefits, too. Read about them here.)

More Pain-Free-Exercise Tips

• Warm up first. (Here's the step-by-step way to do it.)
• Stretch, stretch, and stretch some more. (Check out the
• stretches recommended by Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen.)
• Take an aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug 2 hours before
• heavy physical activity (if your doctor says it's okay).
• (Find out which pain relievers are best for postworkout pain.)