A popular gadget blog starts a post with ‘Jaan pehchaan ho!’ That’s Hindi for ‘recognize!’ If I were drinking a pint of old-skool chocolate milk, it would be spraying out my nose right now. Thank you, Engadget blogger Phillip Torrone.

Jaan Pehechaan Ho! This week’s show is chock full of goodness.

Previous posts on Hinglish: 1, 2

Update: As Chaitanya points out in the comments, it may be a reference to a bouncy Mohammed Rafi tune from Gumnaam (Anonymous) which was featured in Ghost World:

One of my most popular blog posts ever dealt with the…um…”unique” names that Malayalee parents bestow on their helpless offspring. Most bloggers get a large number of hits via Google searches for all sorts of random things; HERstory is visited daily by people who wish to marvel at the ad hoc list of contrived and tortured nomenclature I compiled during one ennui-laced jaunt through Friendster.

I think I might have to amend the list:

Tsunamis are associated with death and destruction. But that has not stopped a couple in Kerala’s Alappuzha district from naming their new-born baby girl after the killer waves.

Kutten and Priyanka of Valiyazheekal in the district, where several people have been killed by the disaster, named their child Tsunami following her miraculous escape from the killer waves.

Priyanka and her daughter were rescued by a relative.

I have no words.

Okay, that’s a lie. I have a few. I guess they can call her…”Tsu”? As a nickname?

Oh, it’s all so wrong…

Via Rediff.

:+:

Update!

Sepia Mutiny reader “JK” points us to an article where “Kutten”, Baby Tsunami’s father, states that he did nothing as foolish as naming his kid after the worst natural disaster in years. Apparently the kid is named “Nakshatra”. So Baby Nakshatra’s Daddy didn’t do it, got that? Yeah, me neither. 😉

Coca-Cola recently released a great Bollywood-inspired ad in Spain, Portugal and Italy (thanks, GG). The ‘Del Pita’ ad retraces The Party, The Guru and Russell Peters’ wisecrack that the only thing a desi accent is good for is cutting tension.

In the ad, a desi waiter livens up a dreary party by bursting into a Bollywood song. Here’s the really cool part: it pays homage to Absolut Vodka’s unforgettable Mulit parody — pink shirt, shiny belt buckle and all. Watch the clip.

• Low-bandwidth version
• More great Bollywood-inspired ads

Update: Boing Boing reader JJ Merelo says,

… it was released last summer and become an instant sensation: the theme has been even featured in the new year’s eve TV shows, replayed over and over as a ringtone, and so forth. The party does not really look like a Spanish party, it rather looks like a british party. Believe me, I’ve been in Spanish parties. And a bit of trivia: it’s actually a girl who sings it, it’s a kind of ‘bollywood asereje’, since it’s not really in hindi (or telugu, for that matter), but in mock-indian language, and it was originally done in Argentina. There’s also a pointer to the spanish Coca Cola site: Link, and a story by a popular hispano-argentinian blogger: Link.

Asereje is that catchy track by Las Ketchup written in nonsensical language. Here’s a machine translation of the Argentinian blogger’s post.

Spaniards are somewhat familiar with Bollywood, as the films are widely available at mainstream DVD stores in Madrid.

The December 27, 2004 issue of In Touch magazine has a very special picture of our beloved, much-blogged-about-here, erstwhile-Apprentice candidate, Raj Bhakta. Page 53 of the fluffy publication features Raj sans bowtie…hell, sans PANTS in a tribute (?) of sorts to Brad Pitt’s Achilles character in the film “Troy”.

“It’s better than being Pee-Wee Herman,” says Raj of his attire, which he describes as “humbling”. Though he’s gained a reputation as a ladies’ man, Raj isn’t convinced that dressing like a Greed God will improve his chances with the opposite sex. “But,” he says, “the closer you’re associated with Brad Pitt, the better.”

Stick with the unique neckwear and natty red trousers, Raj, PLEASE…for the sake of my crush, I implore you… 😉

Sepia Mutiny: Raj, Raj and more Raj…

Call me dorky for getting all gleeful over it, but I think we should break out the champagne and Kingfishers— newest Mutineer Apul got us on the blog that helped inspire Sepia Mutiny in the first place…Boing Boing!

A quick one here: Satire publication The Onion has a small blurb about the Bollywood remake of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

The Onion: Issue 49 (near the upper right-hand corner)

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I think we need a new category called “Raj-watch”. 😉

Mutineer Vinod selected a few words from my favourite tabloid, the New York Post, for an SM blurb about the busy Mr. Bhakta a month ago. I’ll save you the trouble of clicking about by re-pasting the aforementioned Page Six dirt here:

RECENTLY fired “Apprentice” Raj Bhakta might be better suited for a role on “The Player.” The would-be lothario distinguished himself last week by hitting on Donald Trump’s assistant, Robin Himmel, while he was waiting for the elevator to take him from the building after his dismissal.

However, Himmel may be the only one Bhakta struck out with, as three of his fellow castmates have fallen prey to his charms, a source shared, including Stacy Rotner and Jennifer Crisafulli, who have “at least made out” with Bhakta.

Aha! (and with that, may “Take on Me” waft through your head ALL DAY 😉 The very next day, Page Six cleared up any ambiguity about striking:

November 11, 2004 — FIRED “Apprentice” Romeo Raj Bhakta got his wish yesterday — a “date” with Donald Trump’s pretty receptionist, Robin Himmler, who’s featured on the NBC reality show. Raj, known for his bow-ties, asked Robin out at the end of last week’s episode and — even though she has a very serious boyfriend — she agreed to at least meet Raj for a cup of Joe.

The pair chatted yesterday over coffee at (where else?) Trump Tower.

At Sepia Mutiny, we, like President Bush, are “workin’ hard”…”workin’ saturdays” to keep our readers updated on the most pressing brown matters. You don’t have to admit it to your friends, but we know why you’re addicted, and it’s obviously our thisclose coverage of dismissed/fired/rejected south asian reality show refugees. no worries. we’re so on it. 😉

The intrepid and clever RSS glorifies the totemic Hindu animal by claiming cow dung protects against nuclear fallout (via Spontaneous Order):

Bhanwarlal Kothari, a senior member of the RSS, said, “Our tests have shown that distemper made out of cow dung and spread over walls and roofs can block nuclear radiation.”

But wait, cows also cure cancer…

“We believe that cows’ urine can cure cancer, renal failure, arthritis and a lot of other ailments,” Mansinghka said.

… dispose of biohazards…

“Some of my friends have (debated) ways to use cow dung to wrap surgically removed human body parts and bury them in the ground,” he said. “That will save hospitals the expensive process of incinerating such organs.”

… and cause earthquakes via ‘Einsteinian pain waves’:

“The killing of animals causes natural and manmade disasters,” Bajaj said. “But, since the cow is so useful to human beings, its slaughter causes exceptional seismic activity. The cries of the animals go down to the earth through Einsteinian pain waves.”

Clearly, we should be defending our soldiers in Iraq with nothing more than bull shit. All I’m saying is give pees a chance. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting some very non-Einsteinian pain waves in my cranium.

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