Author Archives: vinod

“Pack your shit … and get your ass to Fallujah”

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Mutineers may remember Lt. Neil Prakash whom we profile a few weeks back here. Well, LT Neil – aka “Red Six” has been cajoled by a few of us into starting a blog and sharing his experiences.

One excerpt – ARMOR GEDDON: 5 November (D-3): Return from R&R

“Pack your shit, check under your pillow, and get your ass to Fallujah.” Under my pillow, [my platoon sergeant] left me all the maps, friendly graphics, and enemy graphics, and some intelligence reports. …”Pray for rain,” the captain said. The whole city was littered with more IEDs than probably anywhere else in Iraq. I wasn’t surprised. The insurgents had gone 6 months unmolested within the city limits. “The insurgents use cheap det. cord and when it gets wet, the IEDs usually don’t set off.”

I’m not a soldier, I just play one on TV

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StrategyPage reports on the antics of a Indian soldier / Bollywood wannabees –

December 1, 2004: Twice this year, Indian soldiers have tried to use staged photographs, of non-existent fire fights, to win notoriety, medals and promotions. In the latest incident, a colonel commanding troops against tribal separatists in northwest India used civilians, pretending to be dead, and touched up with tomato sauce, to produce photos of the colonels brilliant combat leadership. The colonel was found out, court martialled and expelled from the army. The major who assisted him was suspended from the army for five years. Last May, some soldiers operating high on the Siachen glacier in the northwest, tried a similar stunt. They were also found out and punished. It is thought that similar attempts may have succeeded elsewhere, so the army is double checking past awards for bravery and outstanding performance in combat. This sort of thing is nothing new, and has been happening before the camera was invented. Especially in wars against irregulars, as India is fighting in its northeast and northwest, the temptation is always there.

Sheesh. Continue reading →

The next M. Knight Shyamalan?

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I’m guessing their subsequent flicks will be doomed to a mediocrity vs. their first movie – Reiter’s Camera Phone Report: Indian student porn MMS video results in expulsions, cellular phone ban –

Two Indian students used a camera phone to film a short porn video, resulting in their expulsion and the banning of cellular phones, according to several media reports, including one in Sify News. Two students in New Delhi — a girl honor student and a boy from a wealthy family — were expelled after they circulated their 2.37-minute film to other students.

Vikram Chatwal….Actor?

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photo.cms.jpgSepia Mutiny’s favorite Desi Playboy never ceases to amaze. His movie “One Dollar Curry” opened up this week in Paris to pretty flattering coverage – Sify reports & graciously links back to Sepia Mutiny

“One Dollar Curry” by France-based Indian filmmaker, journalist and writer Vijay Singh takes a comic look at tolerance while lifting the curtain on an exotic side of the French capital unknown to many visitors. … “One Dollar Curry” is set in the French capital’s well-established home of immigrants from the subcontinent, the 10th district on the northern side, packed with grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores and video rentals with cheap “phone home” facilities, bringing colour and exotic spicy smells to the grey streets. Its star however is Vikram Chatwal, a New Yorker whose family runs a chain of hotels and restaurants in the United States. He plays Nishan, a young Sikh political refugee who hawks curry from a cart in the streets but claims to be related to a line of chefs who cooked for the great names of the world from the Moghul emperors to Winston Churchill and Michael Jackson.

Word on the street is that Chatwal extensively researched the role by dismissing the maid for an evening and doing his own dishes before going to bed.

The Times of India has more.

Previous SM coverage on Chatwal – One More Dream for Chatwal and ON the Trail of Vikram Chatwal

A. Roy – Back the Iraqi “resistance”

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(via Madhoo) Arundhati Roy, faithfully carried by Al Jazeera –

Award-winning Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, who will be presented this week with an Australian peace prize, has defended her views that people should join what she calls the Iraqi resistance. …In a television programme screened by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) last month, she called on people to “become the Iraqi resistance”. …She said activists and resistance movements “need to understand that Iraq is engaging in the frontlines of empire and we have to throw our weight behind the Iraqi resistance”.

Of course, Roy’s support is merely emotional, she certainly didn’t mean to incite violence –

[I]wasn’t urging them to join the army, but to become the resistance, to become part of what ought to be non-violent resistance against a very violent occupation,” she said, adding that the term resistance needed to be redefined. “We can’t assume that resistance means terrorism because that would be playing right into the hands of the occupation,” she said.

Sigh.

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Indus Valley Civilization

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I was reading the Wikipedia entry on Indus Valley Civilization, came across this passage, and couldn’t help but think about how much we’ve regressed –

A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley civilization. The quality of municipal town planning suggests knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene. The streets of major cities such as Mohenjo-daro or Harappa were laid out in a perfect grid pattern, comparable to that of present day New York. The houses were protected from noise, odors, and thieves.

(reading the encyclopedia? I think we’ve firmly established that I’m a dork)

Econo-geek – The Indian Tax code

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Back from a blogging break and I see that Anna, Sajit, newcomer Apul & the other mutineers have been doing a fabulous job keeping SM interesting & sparkling with life.

It almost hurts to post about a subject as dry as the Indian tax code but hopefully there are other econo-geeks out there who might find this succinct article pretty interesting – Project Syndicate

India illustrates the importance of a well-designed tax system. In Bangalore, high-tech companies have built world-class campuses replete with manicured lawns and high-speed data communication networks. Outside these campuses, however, lie open sewers, uncollected garbage, and roads in acute disrepair. Whereas technology companies instantaneously transmit terabytes of data to remote continents, local transport proceeds at an almost medieval pace. …India’s financial difficulties stem from a badly designed and administered tax system. Rates and rules for personal and corporate income taxes appear reasonable by international standards. Nonetheless, India’s government collects income taxes amounting to only about 3.7% of GDP, about half that in South Korea and the other Asian tigers.

Why? Insane levels of corruption… read on for the details.