Blessed Are the Bombay Blind

Many years ago I had a truly memorable experience
when I visited St. Anthony's Home for Orphans
in Pune, India prior to taking part in a Charity concert
to benefit those orphans. Along with three friends who
gladly agreed to perform as 'The Lighthouse Band'

we threw together an evening of 'Gospel Rock' music and
enjoyed ourselves in a way that we never expected, simply
because of the pre-show lunch and visit with the kids at the
Orphanage. To be surrounded by a room full of Orphans
for whom you hope to raise funds, and then to succeed with
a sold-out performance is a most satisfying, humbling and
eye-opening experience. We didn't have many sponsors or
knowledge of fundraising, but we certainly had an inkling
of its impact from that day onward.

Responsible advertising for a Non-Profit Organization
sometimes blossoms into a movement that not only
recoups the expenses of the ad campaign but raises the
subsequent creativity level more than a few notches.
Nowadays the Non-Profit ad arena has certainly been
put front and center thanks to some brilliant design,
maneuvering, and genuinely concerned individuals in
the Advertising and Entertainment industries.
Think Ravi and Anoushka Shankar for PETA,

or Eric Clapton for Children with Leukemia and

you'll see the impact of celebrities on fundraising for
the needy. But it's not always the celebs who make the
difference. Below is a video of a campaign by a Mumbai-
based agency that created a monumental surge in the
effort to help the Blind children of India's oldest
school for the Blind, called Kamala Mehta Dadar
School for the Blind. I will not offer any details about
this video because doing that often detracts not only from
its beauty but also its impact. Enjoy.



Credit where credit is due, to :
Advertising Agency: ideas@work, Mumbai, India
Creative Directors: Zarvan Patel, Prashant Godbole
Art Director: Shriram Mandale
Copywriters: Kartik Smetacek, Roy Abraham,
Tejas Uzgare

Aired: December 2008
See larger version here

Australian Photographer Richard O'Farrell displays some
exquisite portraits of the Blind schoolkids of Dadar here.

Real Age: Are You a Cell Addict ?

I must confess I am not a Parent, Husband or Lover
of Chat, SMS, Texting, IM-ing, Twittering, Beeping

and such things. I use my Cell Phone with the most Basic of
payment options, try to use my Cell only when away from home,
where my good old-fashioned landline works great, even in a
Hurricane-prone area such as mine.

The 2009 season for Hurricanes just began in June. Here in the
Texas Gulf Coast region we expect two major ones to hit and disrupt
our lives and communications once again. Cell phone towers may not
respond as well as expected and the heavy usage of Cell phones at
such times means those phones need juicing up by connecting to car
chargers and alternative power sources . I noticed many frustrated
persons at such times get all stressed-out and restless about making
and receiving calls, and while that was totally understandable from a
family safety standpoint, I couldn't help but wonder how the previous
survivors of Hurricanes in the pre-cell days must have focused on
helping those in the vicinity, instead of spending time trying to work
out Cellphone aggravation like some do nowadays. Which leads
me to this....

I've always considered myself the silent type, not a Cell addict.
So I gladly took the latest test that came along with my email
subscription to


yes....Real Age. Below, my answers highlighted in Red :

The Newest Addiction: Are You Already Hooked?
No.
Think you’d die if you had to give up your cell phone?
No.

Answer these three questions:

1. Are you preoccupied with your cell?
No.
2. Do you use it despite soaring bills?
No.
3. Do you get irritable when you have to cut down on calls?
No.

If YOU said yes, you -- along with countless other people --
may be addicted to your mobile.

In Britain, where cell phones outnumber people, researchers
asked volunteers these and other questions and found that
17% had an unhealthy dependence on their cells.
(And we thought Diet Dr. Pepper was bad!) More than a third
said they were preoccupied with their phones and used them to
lift their moods or avoid facing problems. A whopping 65% said
they continued to use their mobile phones despite mounting bills.
Don’t text your friend this tip yet!

In another study, the same researchers managed to pry the
phones away from a group of frantic addicts. And do you know
what happened? Not complete collapse, meltdowns, and isolation.
Instead, the digitally deprived group actually felt less stressed,
and their blood pressure stopped spiking as high when they
talked about their phones.

Turn yours off and you might find that, gee, you have a pretty
interesting life. Or that you can concentrate better. Or that not
being constantly “on call” is relaxing. Even if you just spent a
fortune on the latest and greatest iPhone, there’s an off button
for a reason. Your body will thank you for using it. And really, that
call can wait.

See how old your Real Age is, click here

Blog Camp Pune 2009

Tarun Chandel, professional Business Analyst, Photoblogger,
Techie and Thinker brings us v.2 June 27 2009 at :
Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research
7th Floor, Atur Centre
Gokhale Cross Road
Model Colony, Pune -16
Pune, Maharashtra India

What's this all about ?
' BlogCampPune is a FREE unconference focusing
exclusively on blogging, organized by bloggers for bloggers.
It‘s built upon the principles of the famous BarCamp
(ad-hoc unconference) focussed on sharing, learning and
new ideas. This is going to be an intense event with
discussions, demos and interaction between attendees.
Any blogger who wants to contribute is welcome and invited
to join. In the spirit of BarCamp, if you attend, be prepared to
present something (even if it's just 10 minutes). '
~ Yahoo Upcoming Events

I live in Friendswood, Texas USA, a long way from my old
home in Pune but I will be there - in the spirit once again.
You don't have to be from Pune to attend and you're encouraged
to support and help make this a permanent Blogging tradition.
Meet, mix and match your talents and ideas. Create !

Collect your Blogcamp Pune Badges from:
http://bit.ly/ij16A or http://tinyurl.com/m9g8lm


A Flickr set from the previous Blogcamp

On Twitter

Previous related posts here

The Fab 5 Rock the Dock in Kemah, Texas

The Fab 5 !

So here's my second amateur attempt at capturing the sights
and sounds of the Kemah Boardwalk in Texas. The first one
is one that I am living with. This time around, I did get three
good visual clips but somehow the audio came out all jerky
and I decided not to upload them. Instead I used some of the
photo captures and added the Fab 5 demo music which is
exactly what it sounded like at the concert anyway.

The Fab 5 are a cover/tribute band who really are Fab when
it comes to recreating the sound of The Beatles. They are
an energetic, authentic addition to the Texas Gulf Coast
Music scene: legends in their own right, who were the opening
band for classic soft-rockers 'America' at their last Texas gig.

If you're planning a trip to Houston, Texas and visiting the
NASA/Clear Lake area, the Kemah Boardwalk is a definite
'must see' spot. There are Thrill Rides,

free concerts during Summer, a 4-D Theater, great restaurants
like Landry's, Shopping, and lots of amusement for kids and
grown-ups alike. See a related Flickr photo set here


All from the scenic Kemah Waterfront, which is recovering
well from the devastation which it incurred from Hurricanes Ike,
Rita, Katrina and others. They certainly have Galveston-born
Tillman Fertitta, who owns the Landry's chain of Restaurants,
and the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, to
thank for his stoic zeal and support to keep the place afloat
(bad pun).

The Fab 5 website :www.thefab5.com/
and they are also on MySpace

Official Kemah Boardwalk site

Related post from May 2008 with video
featuring 98 In The Shade

MAD as Ever

Ever since I was in Junior school, discovering DC Comics'
Superman and all the other Super heroes, Comic book art
put me in a trance ust as it did many schoolboys, back in those
days before we ever saw a TV set. Along with the Comics we
were just discovering TIME,LIFE, PHOTOPLAY, PLAYBOY
and other marvels of Americanpublishing. But only one magazine
– MAD –straddled all the lines of satire, humor, art, Beatnik
hipness and insanity to transport us to an America we always
knew existed but never really looked at in the way MAD made
us to.

Parodies of Hollywood Blockbusters of the time, Billboard chart
hits, Housewives, Preachers, Politicians, Housewives, Olympians
all got the MAD treatment and in the process a new awareness
was raised in their readers worldwide.

Yes, the ‘geniuses’ behind MAD were also the early geniuses
of Madison Avenue, where products are created and marketed
by the brightest, most hyper-animated in the world of Advertising.
The ‘usual gang of idiots’ as MAD staffers called themselves
were anything but idiots– as all those who grew up and got out of
school and into the real world eventually realized. Of course there
is not that much of reading going on nowadays when there’s
MAD TV and SNL to watch. Which is why I must recommend getting
your hands on an old copy of MAD Magazine, the older the better,
and see if all the mocking humor of yore doesn’t qualify today as
an American cultural institution. Thousands are of the same opinion
as I discovered through my adult (?) years. I have been MAD-inspired
for almost my entire life. So imagine what it was like to not only
meet but be alone with MAD writer Dick DeBartolo, who joined the
staff fresh out of high school and still stays on as Consultant today.

As a fledgling Limo Driver in New York City I had the rare and
pleasurable opportunity of picking up Mr. Bartolo from the CNBC
Studios in New Jersey and driving him home to the West Side of
Manhattan. The entire trip saw me lose my professional attitude
and revert to the gushing schoolboy who had just split his sides
reading the latest issue of MAD. By the time we reached his
residence, Mr. Bartolo was fully convinced of the genuineness
of my admiration and gave me the latest issue of MAD, not only
autographed, but with a line dedicated to me ! But wait, that’s
not all – he even gave me the MAD pin from his Baseball cap,
saying jokingly that he couldn’t give me his cap as he was bald
(it was a cold New York winter) and needed it. I left on Cloud Nine
as you can imagine. And I often gaze fondly at the business card
(above) he handed me as he got out with a warm handshake.
Silly, crazy childish me, still growing up mad, letting them get to me.

Selected TRIVIA from wikipedia.org

Richard Nixon, ….remains the only President credited with

writing a Mad article.[32]

Critic Roger Ebert wrote: I learned to be a movie critic by
reading Mad magazine... Mad's parodies made me aware
of the machine inside the skin—of the way a movie might look
original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same
old dumb formulas. I did not read the magazine, I plundered it
for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies; I lost it
at Mad magazine.^[5]

Always as controversial as humorous, here's a Google cached

image from a report about the mag being pulled from the shelves

of Retail Electronics giant Circuit City (now in Bankruptcy)

click to enlarge and read

Earlier MAD raving on this Blog

Recession Impressions

:-)

"What Recession ?" you might say, judging by the way the
non-essential spending goes on in the USA. Or is it that
the Recession hits different people in different ways ?
I thought the only Recession-proof industries must be the
Alcohol and Tobacco ones, even though the figures stated
that more people had quit smoking after the new Tobacco
Tax hike. That new hike didn't quite impact the latest crop
of graduates who are finding fewer jobs awaiting them out
there and have taken to smoking and drinking as they are
officially 'legal'. A whole new generation of smokers and
drinkers enter society and the endless cycle continues.
I know this to be true because part of my daily routine
involves verifying the age of Tobacco product buyers.
Those are the real facts, the prices are up and so are the
sales, especially when the pitch now is 'Buy Two and Save'.

Alcohol remains untouched, a big seller as increasing
numbers bemoan the sorry State of the Nation while sharing
a bottle of cheaper Wine than what they were used to. Judging
from the folks in the path of last year's Hurricane Ike in Texas,
that's exactly what took place, as area Supermarkets found their
sales figures for Wine surpassed all previous records. Their
Liquor stocks were the first ones that were depleted during those
dismal days of shortages, curfews and long lines. Some
literally drowned while others just 'downed'

Yes, big Corporations may be in Bankruptcy but against all odds
there some who are not buckling, but booming. The video below

is from the Wall Street Journal and takes a look at a Tattoo
Parlor in Willowbrook Mall, New Jersey (where I worked for

Tattoo Nation on Flickr

Fortunoff, which just folded after 25 years in business)
that is beyond busy, inking devotees and Tattoo newbies
alike.

Last week I met a weary Carmax worker who got inundated
with sales during an unbelievable 8-hour shift on a Saturday.
They sold 57 Used Cars that day, when on a normal day a
salesperson would be lucky to sell even three.

Hair and Beauty Salons and High-end Boutiques are
also reporting a rise in sales : people seem to want to look
good in bad times, even when it comes to torn and faded
Jeans:

"While consumer spending remains woefully depressed,
expensive designer jeans have been one of the few bright
spots for manufacturers and retailers, according to
NPD Group Inc., a market research company."
~The LA Times

Gun sales are another testament to less-than-troubled times in
stores dealing in Ammo and Firearms. Spurred by fears of new
revisions in Gun Controls that could be imposed by the President
Barack Obama, sales have tripled since January.

WBZTV in Boston, Mass reports :
Ryan Swist of Dighton, who says he has rifles for hunting, was
shopping for his first pistol at Bass Pro.

"Why do you want one?" Ron (salesman) asked.
"To hunt. Safety. You never know," Swist said.
"What do you mean safety?" Ron asked.
"Get robbed or something in your house...recession,
you know. People are getting more hungry for money."

WBZTV ~Gun Sales Increase Trigger Concerns

Penn Live.com has a similar report:
Gun Store Sales Increase

Finally, my neighbor - a single Mother - took two vacations
this month, renting a Time Share cabin in the mountains....
so where's the Recession ? Certainly not in my backyard.

BTW...there is no Virtual Poona Tattoos in existence at the
time of this posting :-)

Indian Wine and Women

As Indian women increasingly become independent, financially
and otherwise, and begin asserting their spending power, wine
drinking is becoming the rage.
-The Global Post, May 2009

Well, Indian women have been drinking as long as the world's oldest
profession has been in existence. That's nothing new. But The ancient
Indian Religious Scriptures have always forced Indian women to higher
standards of public conduct than their Western counterparts. The only
'Ladies' Night' that could be envisioned would be the Palace dancers
and courtesans who were 'on call' at the whim of the Royals.
Dancing girls in the courts of the Mughal rulers being more desirable
or successful meant their acceptances of drinks, 'tips' and amorous
advances as the precursors to giving themselves up to their 'patrons'.
Those early versions of 'Bar Girls' were the bad side of the picture for
serious drinking aficianados of the time - the gourmands.

For centuries the acquisition of wine fines remained dependent on
visits by the Greek conquerors, followed by the Portuguese, Dutch
and British traders and missionaries, who used their mastery of
producing fine wines to further their imperialist ideals. Displaying
their vast array of continental wine flavors.they offered a taste of
what constituted greater wealth and power in the outside world.

Following the occupation and rule by the British, the men in the new
armed forces had the great good fortune to discover gourmet Indian
cuisine alnd so began the evolution of fine wining and dining for those
not in the elite. Those soldiers also paved the way for greater
enhancement of the local palates by trading their Rations of alcohol,
chocolates and other Western goodies for Gemstones, Jewelry,
Cash and anything else they could lay their hands on. Many female
servants, known as 'Ayahs' or Nannies rose above their domestic
positions to become Liasons, Escorts and even wives to their masters.
And so new business and social circles were born, where the most
powerful were wined and dined by the locals with the most to gain
from such new alliances. Which leads to the party days of the Indian
Military bases.....

I grew up enjoying the sights and sounds of Indian Army Galas and
Fetes, at a time when being the friend of Military personnel meant
not just sharing in their festivities but also gaining a 'Passport' to their
imported Scotch and 'Army strength' Rum quotas. As a Musician
performing at these festivities I witnessed many a 'respectable' Army
wife loosening up on the dance floor and enjoying herself after a few
'Army pegs' The same highly-respected ladies who were pillars of the
community, who had to be discreet and order 'Sherry', the standard
'Ladies' Drink' when it came to drinking in public. Fresh out of
school and into College, I highly approved of this camaraderie and
enjoyed this form of hospitality for years.......but those were the old days.

Now, all that unnecessary shame and stigma of women drinking in public
has disappeared as India's business attitude has rapidly evolved into
one of the world's most open. The lifting of Tariff restrictions on imported
goods like Liquor has resulted not only in a wider variety of imports but
also created a mass market in India for Wines from abroad. Much of all
this sophistication has been spearheaded by the new elite who get their
ideas either first-hand via shopping trips to Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong
and Malaysia, or from good old Bollywood which brings the latest trends
to them at a breakneck pace. They are thus on the fast track to keeping up
with, and overtaking the Joneses...and the Joshis. Even local entrepreneurs
who are less-traveled and far from 'hip' are now quickly boning up on Wine
Connoisseurship.

All this bodes good for the status of Indian women as consumers and
more: they now have a whole new world of social and business inter-
action to tap into, research and explore.And to spend more, which is
of course the bottom line. The new society lady is a Renaissance lady,
a Merchandiser's dream, who bravely trades jibes with local Community
Leaders Restauranteurs, and Media Gurus all in the space of one day,

grabbing their attention and swaying their devotion.

Club Indage Pune opened 2005 but now they are
Riding the Recession and the Indian wine consumer

All this is neatly documented by the folks in the video above, the folks
of The Pune Gourmet Club who are determined to party in style, and
often. Visit their blog and tell them an old Punekar sent you.
Then read almost all about the world of Indian women according to Wiki

Happy Mother's Day 2009

Happy Mother's Day 2009,
originally uploaded by FredMikeRudy.

' Forget about the brotherly and otherly love -
Motherly love is just the thing for you
you know your Mother's gonna love you
till you don't know what to do '

-FZ and The Mothers of Invention

Mumbai Trains Are Marvelous. Simply.....

Gotta love those daily commuter trains at CST in Mumbai !
Here's a French tourist's capture from 2007 that shows some
things never change even if it's 30 years later. Sure, it's a whole
lot cleaner, modern, organized, digitally sync'ed and catered
to make the ride a lot more bearable....but as long as the nation's
population remains unchecked, the seating stays up for grabs
even with a monthly pass. Thank goodness they have all that
'spare' seating on top of the trains !

Le RER de Bombay (Inde) - surpeuplé!
Uploaded by zoutou

Here's an Indian blog that mentions an Indian entrepreneur
who came up with the ingenious idea of providing insurance
for getting caught traveling without ticket. Which is not quite
the same as ticketless travel insurance....

Lynndie England: A Tortured Soul

On September 26, 2005, England was convicted of one
count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees
and one count of committing an indecent act. She was
acquitted on a second conspiracy count.^{[citation needed]}
She was sentenced to three years in a military prison for
her crimes. wikipedia.org

It was on a hot day in the last week of September 2005 that
Lynndie England faced Court-Martial at Fort Hood Army Base,
Texas. On that very same day at the same time, I was in the area
of Fort Hood, returning from mandatory Evacuation due to
Hurricane Rita. Somehow I knew I would remember that day for
years to come, maybe forever. Suppressing an overwhelming
urge to sneak up around the Army Base, I promised myself that I
would put down my thoughts about the unusual events of the day in a
Blogpost when I returned to Friendswood, TX. As it turns out I did,
but inexplicably I left out all mention of the England case. So now,
thanks to the release of the Torture Memos, and, come May 28th,
the images related to those Documents, my thoughts on Lynndie
England are being re-examined and shared online. Three and a
half years later........

The Abu Ghraib leaked pictures and subsequent international
media coverage remain forever an important part of U.S. history
that will be analyzed, written and re-written about. We expect that to
happen. And now, perhaps those of us who were shocked, disgusted
and dismayed by our soldiers' behaviour at Abu Ghraib and other
US-controlled prisons will find our perceptions altered. Just like my
perceptions, The Huffington Post's Tina Dupuy and mine have
been altered.

I have always wondered what would drive a twenty-year-old female
who grew up in a mobile home in tiny Fort Ashby, WV to wind up as
a soldier in a harsh environment like Abu Ghraib. Even Mick Jagger
expressed his feeling about her in the 2005 album, 'Bigger Bang'
in a song called 'Dangerous Beauty' Whatever the reason, she
wound up in Iraq at age 20, fell madly in love with her Boss, Sergeant
Charles Graner and got pregnant. Young, ambitious and full of hope
for a life with Graner and the baby after their tour of duty, Lynndie
was determined to do whatever was necessary to make her dream
a reality. Even if it meant committing despicable acts that she
questioned inwardly, outwardly she was being all that she could be,
a good soldier serving her country in the time of need. And so she
evolved into one of the most hated females in the world after the
photos of her at Abu Ghraib prison somehow leaked out. There were
other soldiers present as Sgt. Graner supervised the proceedings,
creating some atrocious photoshoots that he declared would serve
as official Documents on the Army's use of Interrogation Methods,
a.k.a.PSYOPS.

Why did she let Graner take all those pictures? Wasn't she
afraid he'd show them to people?

"I didn't want him to take the pictures," England tells me.
"But he took pictures of everything. He kept a camera in his
cargo pocket. He was always taking his camera out. Sometimes
he took the pictures for himself. Sometimes he took them for
documentation."

According to Staff Sergeant Ivan L. Frederick II, who was
deposed during the military trial,
"[Graner] always talked about being in Desert Storm, and the
things he saw and did, and he had no way to prove these things
happened. So this time around, he said he was going to take
pictures to take back home as proof."
from (A Soldier's Tale: Lynndie England
byTara McKilvey for Marie Claire)

One person who is ready for a new battle for justice is the
prison commander at the time, Janis Karpinski. When the
Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke in 2004, it was soldiers and
officers who took the blame including Karpinski who was
demoted from Brigadier General to the rank of Colonel.
Speaking with CNN's John Roberts last Thursday she says
of Lynndie :

"You have to understand that it builds into a crescendo,"
says Karpinski. "Lynndie is away from the flagpole, in Abu Ghraib
— the most terrible place. You're being mortared every night.
You are breathing dust and broken concrete. It's hot. You feel
dehumanized. You're drained of every bit of compassion that
you have. She did it because she wanted to come back from
this godforsaken war and be able to say, 'We did this for the
government.' She was made to believe that this was of such
importance to national security. It was, you know,
'You stick with me, kid, and you might even win a medal.'"

"Graner was her protector," Karpinski continues. "She wanted
to please him, and she'd do anything he told her to do. She's
thinking, 'Graner would never tell me the wrong thing. I'm sleeping
with him. I trust him.''
http://tinyurl.com/dk4d8t

Sgt.Graner, who is still serving time in prison has no contact with
Lynndie or their son; Lynndie wants nothing to do with the person
who denied being the father and instead was instrumental to her
imprisonment and dishonorable discharge. At least eleven lower-
ranked persons were nudged and judged and served time, but
what lies ahead will have them and a lot of others related to the
events on tenterhooks in the days ahead. For, in addition to
seeing justice duly served on the superiors who were never affected
during all this, this will be their chance to watch the courts clear
their names, and the world to finally acknowledge they were the
'fall guys'.

Karpinski is also ready to go the distance to see that justice is
finally served and even believes a Presidential Pardon should
be forthcoming.

Roberts: Do they deserve a presidential pardon?

Karpinski: They do. And they deserve to have all of the
convictions overturned. They deserve certainly to have their
discharges dishonorable or bad conduct discharges
overturned.

Sourced from :
I Think I Owe Lynndie England An Apology
by Tina Dupuy, The Huffington post.


A Soldier's Tale by Tara McKilvey, Marie Claire

Bush-era memos vindicate Abu Ghraib soldiers?

John Roberts - Anchor, CNN's American Morning