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Indian Chutias Start Filling U.S. Prisons; Biswamohan Pani Pleads Guilty in Intel Case

Diaspora, General, IT Industry, Legal, People 1 Response »

Apr 062012

2012 is proving to be annus horribilis for some Indians as they will soon be guests of the American prison system.

First, it was Kharak Singh, who admitted to unlawful sexual contact and unlawful imprisonment, in a case that rocked Delaware. Singh got a one-year prison term.

Then, the New Jersey peeping tom Dharun Ravi was held guilty in the Tyler Clementi case. Ravi will likely serve several years in prison unless he succeeds in his appeal.

Last week, it was the turn of Queens (NYC) native Patrick Nayyar, who was found guilty for conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to terrorist outfit Hizballah. Nayyar faces a maximum sentence of 75 years in prison. He will be sentenced on September 25, 2012.

Biswamohan Pani-Intel Case

In the latest high profile case involving an Indian, design engineer Biswamohan Pani plead guilty today to five counts of wire fraud in the Intel trademark theft case. Pani too will serve several years in prison when he is sentenced later this year.

Pani, who worked at Intel’s Massachusetts Microprocessor Development Center in Hudson from May 2003-May 2008, was indicted in November 2008 for illegally downloading confidential proprietary information soon after he started working for rival AMD.

FBI agents told the court AMD was unaware of Pani’s actions.

Intel valued the value of the confidential proprietary information at a billion dollars (source: Biswamohan Pani Indictment, November 5, 2008 and July 22, 2009, p.5).

Pani initially claimed he was innocent but plead guilty Friday to the wire fraud charges stated in the indictment.

Pani’s sentencing is scheduled for August 8, 2012.

He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years on each of the five counts plus financial penalties.

However, the U.S. Attorney in the case is recommending a prison term of six years for Pani. But the recommendation is not binding on the judge who may award Pani a longer prison term.

Pani, an IIT Bombay alumnus, worked at DEC/Compaq/HP and joined Intel when it acquired Compaq’s Hudson, Massachusetts facility in May 2003.

Court Documents Related to Biswamohan Pani’s Case:
Biswamohan Pani Guilty Plea – April 5, 2012
Biswamohan Pani Indictment – July 22, 2009

Black Crackhead Pol Says Asians Must Go; Now You Know Blacks Too Can be Racists

Amazing America No Responses »

Apr 062012

We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops … They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.

- Former Washington DC Mayor, former Crack Cocaine User, former Prisoner, Current member of the Council of the District of Columbia representing Ward 8 Marion Barry

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Housefull 2 Review – Entertaining Piffle

Bollywood 14 Responses »

Apr 052012

Given Akshay Kumar’s unceasing penchant for starring in films that require you to leave your brains at home, we walked into Housefull 2 with high apprehensions and low expectations.

Boy, were we surprised.

‘Tis true, Housefull 2 is total bakwas (nonsense) but thankfully of the amusing kind.

Directed by Sajid Khan based on a ‘story’ by Sajid Nadiadwala, Housefull 2, set in London, is a wildly over the top affair with bum-chomping crocodiles, dick-biting pythons, parachuting grooms, dacoits-turned-billionaires shooting Prince Charles etc.

But the movie manages to eke out lots of laughs.

For us, the two biggest delights of the movie were the coming together of real-life brothers Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor on the screen and the high humor quotient.

Randhir and Rishi play step-brothers in the film and do a superb job.

Together, they deliver an acting lesson to the younger generation of Bollywood stars.

Bollywood writers usually do a lousy job with comedies, which often end up hopelessly crass, crude and crappy.

In Housefull 2, although the nonsense never stops careful attention to the writing pays off for the laughs don’t stop too.

Housefull 2 – The Story?

Ha ha ha, you must be crazy if you insist on knowing the story of Housefull 2.

Didn’t we already say it’s nonsense?

Well, if you insist.

It all starts with the high aspirations two estranged brothers Daboo (Randhir Kapoor) and Chintu (Rishi Kapoor) have of snaring a super-wealthy son-in-law for their respective daughters Bobby (Jacqueline Fernandez) and Heena (Asin).

The rest of the movie is a fallout of their high aspirations and a lengthy chronicle of insults, revenge, hiring of two crooks Sunny (Akshay Kumar) and Max (John Abraham), love, fights, flashbacks and confusion galore.

Akshay Kumar and John Abraham play their characters with enormous gusto, with Akshay having an edge in the acting department.

Shreyas Talpade and Ritesh Deshmukh do a more than adequate job in contributing to the mischief and adding to the nonsense + amusement quotient.

Where there are four young men and four babes, love’s bound to follow in short order.

And so woven into this endless nonsense are four love-stories.

Mithun Chakraborty, Johnny Lever and yesteryear Bollywood ‘rapist’ Ranjeet are part of the frolic.

Four Girls

There’s not much to be said of the four girls – Jacqueline Fernandez, Asin Thottumkal, Zarine Khan and Shazahn Padamsee. Continue reading »

Closed! Bollywood Villain Shiva Natarajan’s Filthy Shithole Dhaba Closed by NYC; Dhaba has Live Roaches, Evidence of Mice etc

Business, Diaspora, Food 2 Responses »

Apr 052012

Update: Dhaba Reopens After Fresh Inspection

Bollywood villain Shiva Natarajan must be writhing, groaning and moaning in shame after the New York City Health Department closed his unhygienic shithole Dhaba Indian restaurant on 108 Lexington Avenue following an inspection on April 3, 2012.

After all, closing a restaurant is a drastic step that the NYC Health Dept takes only under conditions of serious hygiene violations.

Unhygienic Dhaba NYC Closed by NYC Unhygienic Dump Dhaba Closed by NYC Health Dept

Dhaba NYC – Filthy

Live roaches, evidence of mice/live mice, inadequate personal cleanliness are only a few of the critical violations unearthed by the NYC Health Department in its recent inspection of Dhaba Indian restaurant on Lexington Ave in New York City.

Dhaba scored a horrible 77 violations in the inspection, a figure that must surely be causing palpitations in diners who visited the restaurant in recent weeks.

It’s only a cruel, callous, villainous owner who maintains such poor hygiene in his restaurant knowing fully well the potential harmful consequences on diners (Dhaba has failed the NYC Health Dept inspection on multiple occasions in the past).

Here are a few of the critical violations unearthed at Shiva Natarajan’s Dhaba (marked in Red by NYC Health Department) in the April 3, 2012 inspection:

* Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
* Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
* Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
* Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
* Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.

Time and again Dhaba has fared miserably in the NYC Health Department inspections.

On multiple occasions, we have brought up the issue of poor hygiene at Dhaba with its garrulous owner Shiva Natarajan.

And the man blames everyone (landlords, garbage pickup schedules, the city etc) but himself.

On one occasion, he even threatened to unleash his lawyers on us.

Maybe, it’s time the bozo looked up the word introspection in the dictionary.

In the meantime, our sympathies are with Dhaba’s hapless diners and hope they stay healthy.

Update: The NYC Health Department has authorized the reopening of Dhaba following a new inspection in which the restaurant scored 2 violation points.

Quote of the Day – Adolf Hitler

Quotes 1 Response »

Apr 042012

The greater the man, the more insignificant should be his woman.
- Adolf Hitler, in 1934

Source: At Home With Hitler by Antony Beevor in New York Review of Books, April 26, 2012 P.37

100m Indian Chutias Will Soon be Depressed

Food, Health No Responses »

Apr 042012

A friend recently visiting from India told us that fast-food restaurants in India serving Pizzas, Burgers, Croissants etc had mushroomed there and are now wildly popular with the younger generation, particularly in the cities (food courts, malls and even residential neighborhoods).

Our friend’s remark on Indian fast-food places came to mind when we stumbled upon a Spanish study linking consumption of fast-food with depression.

Fast food in the context of the Spanish study refers to pizzas, burgers, sausages, doughnuts, muffins, croissants etc.

Fast Food = Bad Health

That a lot of fast food in America and elsewhere is extremely unhealthy has been written about by several authors, made into films and generally beaten to death.

Despite the widespread publicity of the harmful effects of fast food, the idiots keep stuffing themselves with that junk.

Well, if you ask us we’ve always considered the Sapiens part of Homo Sapiens to be much overrated.

While knowledge of fast-food contributing to bad health is well known, it comes as an unwelcome surprise that junk food also leads to bad mental health.

Now Spanish researchers Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, Estefania Toledo, Jokin de Irala, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Jorge Pla-Vidal and Miguel A Martínez-Gonzáleza have recently published a research article in the academic journal Public Health Nutrition titled Fast-food and commercial baked goods consumption and the risk of depression.

The authors conclude that eating fast-food and commercial baked goods may have a detrimental effect on depression risk.

In plain English, it means eating fast food causes depression.

There’s also a dose-response relationship between fast food and depression. So if you eat more fast food, the greater your risk of depression.

An excerpt from the study says:

Participants belonging to consumption quintiles Q2–Q5 showed an increased risk of depression compared with those belonging to the lowest level of consumption

Indian Scenario

Now consider that India’s population is about 1.3 billion people (the way those mosquitoes breed, it could well be a lot higher).

Given the high economic growth rate in recent years, the burgeoning middle class and entry of more women into the work-force, we’re going to take a reasonable 9% of that population as frequent consumers of fast-food like Pizzas, Burgers, croissants, donuts etc.

Do the math and you get a whopper of a figure – 100 million.

This means that 100 million Indian chutias who stuff their anterior orifices aka mouths with all that junk food are already depressed or will soon be.

In our view, depression is often related to suicide, homicide, road-rage, obesity and a variety of other problems.

Depression is said to currently affect 124 million worldwide but we consider that a ridiculously low estimate.

Food containing B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and olive oil can help to prevent depression.

We think this is the best of times for psychiatrists and lawyers in India.

Mirror Mirror Review – I Believe, I Believe, I Believe, I Believe in Tarsem Singh

Hollywood 5 Responses »

Mar 302012

The greatest of life’s many tragedies is that it’s so damn unfair.

Evil often triumphs over Good.

There’s often no penalty for cruelty, gluttony, debauchery, savagery and a raft of other venal acts.

And, oh yes, good movies sometimes meet a sorry fate at the box office and the hands of critics.

We just returned from a screening of director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s Mirror Mirror.

Pleased as punch.

Certainly not a masterpiece or classic but most definitely an eminently watchable film.

From what we could gather, the audience (hall was about 60% full) seemed to be having a good time too.

But if you were to visit a meta reviews site like Rotten Tomatoes you’d find Mirror Mirror’s rating at a mere 50%.

Because half of the reviews are critical.

And unfairly so.

Well, nobody ever said life was fair

Fine Spectacle

Considering that the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves has been told numerous times on the screen, many may have rightly felt it was a reckless act on director Tarsem Singh’s part to accept to helm a remake of the film.

But, boy, what a fine job Tarsem and his crew have done bringing a fresh look at an old story.

Not merely a dazzling visual spectacle, the movie is a fine amalgam of wit, love, cruelty, good acting and old and new faces.

Hollywood veterans like Julia Roberts (evil Queen) and Nathan Lane (Brighton) unite with pretty, young, fresh faces like Lily Collins (Snow White).

Lily Collins ably holds her own against a strong cast.

The young lass is already being hailed as the new Audrey Hepburn.

We’ve always loved Julia Roberts and her solid performance in Mirror Mirror added an extra dimension to our affection for the Pretty Woman.

But Mirror Mirror is not your grandfather’s Snow White.

Writers Melissa Wallack and Jason Keller achieve the impossible by bringing a novel, fresh cheeky take to the oft-told, age-old fairytale.

Although Melissa and Jason keep the broad framework of the fairytale unchanged, they adroitly maneuver in the innards of the story through some clever sleights of hand to make the story interesting to viewers.

The dialogs, particularly when the dwarves are around or when the evil Queen is kinda soliloquizing, crackle with wit and verve. Continue reading »

A Dangerous Method Review – A Triumph of Imagination

Hollywood No Responses »

Mar 302012

I can assure you that in a 100 years our work will still be rejected.

Columbus, you know, had no idea what country he’d discovered.

Like him, I’m in the dark.

All I know is that I’ve set foot on the shore and the country exists.

- Viggo Mortensen’s Sigmund Freud describing the then nascent discipline of psychoanalysis to Michael Fassbender’s Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method.

Movies have been with us for over a century now.

Yet, the majority of them, particularly the sophomoric Indian variety, are unwatchable horror shows that pander and cater exclusively to the dimwits and toadies to the stars.

In the rare instance movies are not unwatchable trash they’re hopelessly boring narrating a banal soporific story.

Refreshing Story

In an age when moviegoers are inundated with either ceaseless action or non-stop love, how refreshing then to watch a different film like David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method with a superb cast and a fine story to boot.

Set in the early years of the last century, the story borrows from real life incidents of extraordinary people like Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Sabina Spielrein and Otto Gross.

The aforesaid were prominent figures in the then new discipline of psychoanalysis.

Familiar Director

Director David Cronenberg is no stranger to us.

Five years back we watched his Eastern Promises (Viggo Mortensen), a film that greatly pleased us.

It was likely our first exposure to Viggo Mortensen and we’ve since grown to admire this fine actor.

So it was not surprising that we desperately searched at four RedBox kiosks before finally locating A Dangerous Method.

Even as we clicked the play button on our remote, we knew a treat lay ahead of us.

But A Dangerous Method surpassed our extravagant expectations.

At its most basic, the movie is about two things.

First, it dwells upon the relationship between Carl Jung (played exceptionally by the Irish actor Michael Fassbender) and his masochistic patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Continue reading »

Word of the Day – Onnagata

English No Responses »

Mar 282012

It’s been a while since we boosted your vocabulary.

We stumbled on the word Onnagata last night while leafing through the latest issue of New Yorker magazine (April 2, 2012, P.7).

There’s a short piece on an upcoming Kabuki (Japanese dance-drama) program in New York City that contains the word Onnagata.

Onnagata means a man who specializes in performing the roles of women on stage in Kabukis.

The New Yorker piece mentions that Bando Tamasaburo is Japan’s best known Onnagata.

In India, the colorful Kathakali dance drama, popular in the south western state of Kerala, is traditionally an all-male dance form that employs males to don the roles of females.

So can we describe our Kathakali male dancers who play women as Onnagatas?

By the way, rumors to the contrary notwithstanding, we can assure you that vocabulary has nothing to do with its Tamil fourth cousin Okkapulleri!

Agent Vinod – Not Good at Box Office

Bollywood, Box Office 9 Responses »

Mar 272012

Agent Vinod, which had a fairly wide release in the U.S. (for a Bollywood film), hasn’t done well at the box office.

And that’s a shame because the movie is a decent Hindi action, spy thriller.

Here’s how Agent Vinod fared at the U.S. box office compared to a few prominent Bollywood films:

Related Stories
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