Why Mario is bad for you

Link via Reddit

Vote for the Booker of Bookers

The Best of the Booker, a one-off celebratory award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize, announced its shortlist today.

To be honest, I had only read Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" (1981) and J M Coetzee's "Disgrace" (1999). And Rushdie was my choice.

The other four shortlisted books, chosen from the list of 41 Booker Prize and Man Booker Prize winners, are:

Pat Barker's "The Ghost Road" (1995)
Peter Carey's "Oscar and Lucinda" (1988)
J G Farrell's "The Siege of Krishnapur" (1973)
Nadine Gordimer's "The Conservationist" (1974)


Of course, Rushdie is the favourite for the award but you can vote for any of the six contenders here.

Voters have until midday on 8 July to select the best novel to have won the Booker prize since it was first awarded on 22 April 1969.

The Best of the Booker will be announced on 10 July 2008.

Two suicides

(Link via Reddit)

Today is International Shutdown Day

Life without computers is difficult, maybe impossible. Are you brave enough to shut down your computer for a day?

Shutdown Day is one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the Internet. The idea is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day -- this year D-day falls on Saturday May 3, 2008.

What to do Just shut down your computer and involve yourself in some other activity, just to remind yourself that there still exists a world outside your monitor.

What I did All I can say is that I tried. And failed. And I wrote this blog post for you. And considering the fact you are probably reading this on May 3, you haven't been able to stay away from your computer either. Well, for losers like us there's always next year.

But if you still want to give it a try, click here

April 2008 Blog Mela

Suchitra Krishnamoorthi eats a cockroach

Anand Ramachandran gets Agassi to star in comic Henry

Krish Ashok is a Hypowebiac


Chronicus Skepticus has a crush on her nerd boss


Domain Maximus has fun on a Goan beach

Jamshed V. Rajan takes revenge the Jammy way

Twisted DNA cooks mac-and-cheese

Jabberwock rants about U, Me aur Hum

Aditya Kulkarni learns how to avoid cutting tomatoes

Aamir Khan on being alive, but not kicking

That's all for now. The May 2008 Blog Mela returns early next month. But before leaving, do please vote for the best post in the April 2008 Blog Mela.

The best of April 2008 blog mela
	Suchitra Krishnamoorthi
	Anand Ramachandran
	Krish Ashok
	Chronicus Skepticus
	Domain Maximus
	Jamshed V. Rajan
	Twisted DNA
	Jabberwock
	Aditya Kulkarni
	Aamir Khan
pollcode.com free polls

Check out previous Blog Melas
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008

Did you just come across a quirky, interesting or something-that-tugs-at-your-heartstrings blog? If yes, feel free to nominate it for the May Blog Mela being hosted here on June 2

Blog Mela Rules
- Posts must have been written by Indians or have an Indian angle
- Only posts published between 1-31 May, 2008 would be accepted
- If possible, please nominate individual posts, not the whole blog
- Feel free to nominate something you have written. Immodesty appreciated
- You can nominate as many blog posts as you like - provided you really like them
- Only nominations received before midnight on June 1 stand a chance to be featured on the Top 10 list
- No, you don't get any moolah for nominating or getting featured in the Blog Mela. That could change once I am a millionaire but for now you'll just have to bear with me
- Yours truly reserves the right to nominate good posts which you ignore

How to Nominate
- Leave a comment on this post OR better still - Mail me at toeknee (at) gmail (dot) com

Shah Rukh Khan meets a "rappist"

I missed the first episode of 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain' - the Indian version of an American reality gameshow - but millions in the country tuned in on Friday night to watch actor Shah Rukh Khan and a bunch of kids torture contestants with questions lifted from school textbooks.

At work the next day, a colleague kept distracting me by bursting into giggles every few seconds till I couldn't take it any more.

"What?"

"Shah Rukh Khan (giggle)... There was this (giggle) dude from Indore on the show who sang (giggle) Hindi songs in English and some rap in between"

"So?"

"Shah Rukh introduced him (giggle) as the first rappist (giggle) on the show"

"Rappist?"

"Rappist (giggle)"

"As in he wanted to say rapper"

"But said rappist (giggle)"

"He did not"

"Yes, he did (giggle)"

"Come on, Shah Rukh obviously knows the difference between rapper and rapist - and there's no such word as rappist"

"He seriously didn't know (giggle)"

"He must have winked or something"

"No, he didn't. He didn't dwell on it, didn't explain it, just moved on to the first question"

"Just a mistake. He must have realised it the moment he said it"

"No, he genuinely didn't know. Imagine Shah Rukh not knowing (giggle)"

The mystery remains unresolved. Does the Bollywood actor actually refer to Snoop Dogg and Eminem as 'rappists'? Or was the wordplay a mistimed joke that fell flat.

News reports did not mention the gaffe.

Can those of you who watched the episode (and I am sure many of you did) throw some light on this important issue - my colleague is in danger of being institutionalized in a "giggle factory" and I am going to be nagged till I admit Shah Rukh Khan thinks rapists are rappers.

ALSO READ
Let Deepika touch BBC's body - Shah Rukh Khan

Surviving Delhi's Bus Rapid Transit Corridor II

(Read Part I of this post here)

I feel sad for the blind and the aged. The people who are at others' mercy when it comes to crossing the road. At the BRT Corridor, it's worse. The reed-thin traffic marshal with a baton doesn't scare car drivers and his attempts to help an old lady reach the bus-stop are quickly rendered futile.

A cow ambles across the road and an alert traffic marshal is quick to pursue the fugitive. But his actions end up confusing the animal and it darts aimlessly into oncoming traffic.

The BRT corridor has swallowed up a few men and a dozen dogs in the past and it seems this milk-white cow is set to join the gang in paradise. But a bus screeches to a halt and order is quickly restored. The cow will live to moo the tale.

The brand new sign marking the bus-stop for Sheikh Sarai Phase II lies crumpled, mowed down by an errant driver or perhaps just an angry one. Pedestrians aren't saints either. Jaywalking is in. Who wants zebra-crossings?

It's Day Two of testing for the Bus Rapid Transit corridor and it quickly becomes apparent the problem will be far worse today. Three times Sunday's crowd is in for the torture, bigger caterpillars, angrier drivers, hotter temperatures, three-hour delays. Manic Monday on the BRT Corridor makes it as a news item on NDTV.

Their OB van is stationed on the route and I watch the reporter mumble something into the mike as the camera pans across the road to where I sit -- inside an autorickshaw.

More people now seem to have shared my brainwave of yesterday. The buses are crowded (even in the early morning) but they will reach their destinations faster by travelling along the central verge.

The autorickshaw-wallahs of Delhi are in fleece-mode today but I am too exhausted and irritated and late to complain. At least I will have air to breathe. But I steal a glance at a bus trundling past bursting at the seams.

My driver is in a chatty mood, assured as he is of a neat profit. I am taciturn, not least because he's overcharging me.

"The government has gone mad," he turns and exclaims, fingering his well-oiled moustache and displaying a set of paan-stained teeth.

"Yes"

"They should have just extended the Metro train from Lajpat Nagar"

"Yes"

"All this in the name of development. But who gains, sahib? Everyone suffers"

Silence.

He gets the hint and turns his attention back to the road. We hadn't moved an inch in five minutes.

Further ahead, another cow bars our path - a black one this time.

By evening, authorities realise the situation is getting out of hand. And allow cars to travel along the bus corridor.

The effect is telling -- the hitherto ecstatic bus passengers are quickly brought down to earth. My pain eases a little now that all of us are stuck - but stuck together - in the same mess. We are crabs that will never allow another crab to get out of the basket.

In the coming days, many will debate the pros and cons of Delhi's Bus Rapid Transit Corridor. This brainchild of an IIT Delhi professor will rock parliament and perhaps silence even those crying themselves hoarse over onions and potatoes.

But it will be people like myself, connected by this South Delhi lifeline, who will continue their daily odyssey, suffering and waiting patiently for God knows what.

Aaaaaaaaargh! I should stop philosophising and look for a house in North Delhi.

Surviving Delhi's Bus Rapid Transit Corridor

The mile-long caterpillar has started moving again, quickly breaking up into parts as each car, autorickshaw and mini-van makes a dash for the exit, and comes to the inevitable screeching halt. The lights have turned red again. A new caterpillar takes the old one's place.

For the thousands of people condemned to an endless wait on Delhi's Bus Rapid Transit(BRT) Corridor, it's easy to conjure up flights of fantasy.

The line of toxin-spewing cars idling under a relentless April sun represent the travails of a woman in never-ending labour; Samuel Beckett's tramps waiting for Godot; the indeterminable minutes that the reality show host takes to reveal whether you, the eager contestant, are in or out.

Of course, you will escape -- but it takes limitless patience before your vehicle can traverse those final inches at the Chirag Dilli crossing, before it can take off, explode with orgasmic intensity and hit Josip Broz Tito Road with all the enthusiasm of a five-year-old boy handed an unexpected treat.

They began testing the BRT Corridor today and I had one of my rare brainwaves -- travel by bus -- because stray cars can no longer approach the central verge and the much maligned Blueline buses can overspeed, overhonk, overgloat as they rush unhindered towards an unseen horizon, jerk to a stop every kilometre or so, and discharge passengers smack in the middle of the road.

To be honest, I didn't see any car driver try and cross over to the special corridor -- something they did with impunity just 24 hours ago. And I notice the smirks on the faces of my fellow passengers as the bus flies past rows of stationary automobiles on either side.

I can't make out the faces of the car drivers -- just blurs of frowns and bared teeth and snatches of vulgar abuse directed at the government. But why did they come this way? Don't they even glance at The Times of India's daily diatribes on the traffic jams on the BRT corridor.

"But why are the bus-stops in the middle of the road?" asks a middle-aged lady seated next to me. She seems to be trapped in what looks like a yellow cocoon of paisleys, too dazzling a dress to wear for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The conductor is in a foul mood, and he lets loose with a red gob of betel-nut spittle that lands with practised precision on one of the shiny tubes of one of the shiny new bus-stops that sprung up last month on the shiny new road.

"They want to make Delhi like Paris," he barks as the veins of his eyes throb in unison to his spluttering. "But how will they make the people of Delhi behave like those in Paris?"

(Read Part 2 of this post here)

INTERVIEW - Karan Rastogi

Karan Rastogi reached the semifinals of the $15,000 TCL Futures in Taizhou, China this week -- his best performance since winning in Morocco in July last year.

In an interview, Rastogi told The Indian Tennis Blog it's good to finally get some wins under his belt.

To read more, click here