Today I listened to a podcast on Tamil hip hop that was pretty boring. But this song, ‘Gangster (Laadam)’ by Emcee Jesz and Dr Burn, has a pseudo-Latin vibe and sort of rules and reminds me a lot of Bone Thugz or Cypress Hill.
More to follow on Tamil hip hop? Probably not.
Tamil Hip Hop
Airtel et al, Pt.5
A serendipitous thing has happened. In the last few days at the KGFS office here in Thanjavur, I’ve been marvelling at a 8.5×11 that’s posted on the bulletin board. Philanthropic in nature, this sheet outlines the ill health effects that are consonant with drinking cold water — especially after a meal of greasy or oily [...]
Airtel et al, Pt.3
After a month or more of fairly insipid (and, I hate to say it, increasingly unwelcome) SMS advertisements from Airtel and whoever else has somehow gotten my mobile number, this thought-provoking tidbit came to me this morning:
“SAUNA” Tummy
reducing belt
worth
RS.1500/.NOW
Just RS 600 only
with 1 YEAR
GUARANTEE for 3
days only FOR
FREE DOOR
DELEVERY
CALL:984108367
0\9841698111
Microfinance Immersion, Pt.1
Putting all fraught images (however problematic or trite) of the ‘relief worker’, the ‘aid worker’, or the ‘humanitarian’ to the side, it is a very stirring experience to sit with Indian villagers and discuss with them their day-to-day trials, and for them to be so open to the possibility of your helping them. At least, [...]
LPR
Advertisements that run during IPL can get pretty redundant, which is wearying most of the time. But in a few instances, as with the ads for Lovely Professional University, a university in the Punjab, every opportunity to re-examine the ad is a joy. Even more so than in the US, commercials broadcast during sporting events in India are ruthlessly hacked [...]
Chaiyya Chaiyya
Good grief watch all six and a half minutes of this music video:
“Chaiyya Chaiyya” from Mani Atman’s 1998 Bollywood film Dil Se, composed by AR Rahman, acted by Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora Khan (no relation), sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi, and filmed on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway near Ooty, in southwestern [...]
Pond’s White Beauty
One of the hardest things to know how to feel about as a Westerner in India is the persistent advertisement (and presumed use, by women) of complexion-lightening cosmetic products. As a more symbolically-laden correlate to the use of fake tanners by some white people, it’s yet another example of how values and appearances get reflected, [...]
Airtel et al, Pt.4
The way in which telecom companies advertise in India is striking. Visual motifs, catchy slogans, and young icons are effectively combined in such a way as to build a progressive-sounding, forward-looking and apparently self-evident exhortation toward the consumption of the latest, greatest technologies of communication. Like many phenomena in contemporary India, these ads afford a [...]
IPL2, Pt.1
Though the monsoon is still five months off, it rained last night, powerfully and beautifully, and for the first time I actually needed a sheet while sleeping. This morning it’s cool, which is pretty much unconscionable for Chennai, and most welcome to this good-natured-though-climatically-troubled white guy who had three people comment the other day on [...]
Indian Print Media, Pt.1a
An addendum to that post a couple days back:
Kotalipara Development Society is a microfinance bank based in West Bengal.