india

PepsiCo Is The Only Thing Keeping Poor People Alive

11:34PM Hamilton Nolan | The only thing standing between impoverished rural Indians and total physical collapse is the good will of international sugar-water conglomerate PepsiCo, which soon hopes to be making $US30 billion a year by selling “good for you” products to people so desperate that they will turn to PepsiCo to find something good for them. More »

Rude Racist Truths About Australians From A Call Centre

5:31AM Ryan Tate | Oh, the things they say about us in Indian call centres. About Americans, about Australians – it’s terribly insulting stuff. It’s also kinda true! More »

The World’s Last Handwritten Newspaper

3:25AM Maureen OConnor | The Musalman is the world’s oldest Urdu-language daily newspaper. It is also thought to be the world’s last handwritten daily newspaper. Everyday, four katibs – practitioners of the ancient art of Urdu calligraphy – write The Musalman‘s four broadsheet pages from right to left, by hand. Mistakes sometimes require rewriting the entire page. They then send it to a printer for reproduction, and sell it on the streets of Chennai, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 10-minute documentary above depicts the process. More »

Harry Potter Inspires Owl Kidnapping Wave

8:16PM jeff neumann | Fans of Harry Potter are responsible for a recent wave of owl disappearances in India by taking them from the wild and keeping them as pets, says India’s environment minister. That, and they’re being used in black magic rituals. [AFP]

The Vuvuzela Returns: India’s Commonwealth Games Are Screwed

7:18PM jeff neumann | The Commonwealth Games are approaching! Host nation India has taken heat for having the grossest athletes’ housing ever, but that’s nothing: the vuvuzela is lurking. At least 10,000 shitty plastic horns have already been sold in New Delhi.