Froogle is GONE

I was in love with the word Froogle - and now its the same old 'product search' - how is that going to make it a better service? I don't understand why it was not that popular, but as I said, I even had a dedicated tab for it in my Firefox bar. The interface is cleaner according to some, and the search page will now also display all of the searched items by the user, but did they really need to change the name to Google Product Search' ? Anyways, the service is free, as is the case with all of Google's services, so taking advantage of it is a must. Hey, if you want to earn $10, simply sign up with Google Checkout, and start shopping.

Read more!

Richard Gere Says Sorry to Shilpa

Shilpa Shetty - the Sexy Indian actress who won Big Brother! Circumstances forced Richard to apologize to Shilpa!! That is because the political as well as religious leaders in India are angry at Richard for 'kissing Shilpa in Public'. The News article opens with 'Unaware that he was breaking the cultural taboos' Richard apologized to Shilpa for causing outrage. At first learning what happened sounded funny for a few seconds, but then I was annoyed for all the frenzy created by Indian people. The bigotry of this society always always gets me. What cultural taboos are these 'leaders' talking about? This is a country with a highest degree of hypocrisy! (I grew up there and I know what I am talking about). On some social networks I have seen people openly saying in their profile sections that they are "turned on" by "public displays of affection" and "assertiveness".. so why such a hue and cry over Richard Gere kissing Shilpa? well, mind you they said 'in public'.. Don't forget this is the country that gave Kama Sutra to the world. How can they even start to pretend such prudes? And, how ironic the situation was. The actors had appeared at an AIDS-Awareness gathering in New Delhi. The politicians and so-called religious leaders are way out of bounds in this one (as is often the case). The nonsensical fury made Richard Gere even apologize to Shilpa. How embarrassing that in a world of constant violence and chaos, a mere kiss is not acceptable in some parts of the world. And I have this to say to the spokesperson for the "mainstream political party 'the Bharatya Janata Party' who said: "Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition." How do you feel when more than 400,000 of your daughters and sisters are kidnapped every year and sold for sex? That is not so public so you don't feel you need to address it? Or when girls from other countries are sold to you guys? See this: India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. In addition, boys from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are trafficked through India to the Gulf States for involuntary servitude as child camel jockeys. People in India would develop much more respect for leaders only if they paid more attention to securing the young and helpless kids of Gandhi's nation. Read this mother's plight here. It breaks my heart!

Read more!

One Day Blog Silence

On April 30th, The blogging community will be observing a day of silence to pay homage to those we have lost in the shocking murderous rampage at Virginia Tech this month. Follow the link here.

Read more!

New Flash:: Mothers More Abusive than Fathers

According to a study results published in Times of India, it is revealed that the mothers are more "abusive" than the fathers. Reading the article, I instantly went back in time many many years. Although I have been in the United States for the better part of my adulthood, I grew up in India and our household as fairly liberal in thoughts, values and was full of love. I am the third out of four and the second daughter. Older sister was a few too many years apart from me and my older brother but I remember she used to be the one taking care of us younger siblings most of the time when my mother had to go out of the house to run some errands. And from errands I mean sometimes out of town for several days!! I never felt I was being abused, rather, I felt that my demands were given preferential treatment over my brothers - by the sister as well as my father - and that would leave my mother a bit irritated on her return :-) little things like spending the entire afternoon at the friend's house and not helping in household chores in her absence. And then it would be my turn in the kitchen - by mother's orders - making coffee or tea every time someone visited - it was so normal for friends and acquaintances to just drop by in the evenings and you would end up making tea many times before the night fell. And if the older sister or even my brother wanted to help me out, my mother would not let them, merely because she believed I "needed" to learn these things for one day I would need to do them for "my" family. Anyways, those were beautiful days, and I yearn to have them back. Time once gone, never comes back. My parents did not believe in sparing the rod and spoiling the child adage….. and at times it may have felt bad, but I can see it today that those occasional scoldings and discipline techniques did work and I am sure made us good humans today. I'm sure there is a small percentage of those parents who truly ABUSE their kids- but those people are mentally sick. And that’s not to say that the parents who are strict, don’t love their children - being strict and punishing kids for mistakes doesn’t mean you are abusive. But there has to be a better way to deal with discipline. Especially with young girls, our approach definitely has to be a bit different than with boys. But the article did make me feel very sad for the girls, especially at the number of girls who wished they were boys. Now that really sucks.

Read more!