Snippets/Spottings

<> Recently, been experimenting with a shift from Google to A9. The former has been described somewhere as going from "do no evil" to "do know evil." But what about A9? [... calls] it 'a trojan horse.' Disturbing :-(

<> Some really great writing I stumbled across, on the relentless pain of street harassment. The excerpt is in hope of compelling you to read the essay:

"Some things, you learn to expect, growing up a girl.

You expect to confront harrassment as surely as the sun in May and the fog in a Delhi December.

When you leave the house, an invisible snake of alert suspicion will wind down from your shoulders down your back and become a clenched fist in all public spaces, through all journeys.

[...]

You didn't always expect to do this, of course. One learns these things, by and by.

[...]

Some things, you learn to expect (relief is always unexpected).

Therefore, you will be very pleasantly surprised when a man takes the seat next to you, and actually leaves two inches breathing space between you, instead of pushing so close that the windowpane leaves marks on your forearm.... All the same, old habits die hard, and you will spend the journey with a clenched fist balled up somewhere in your shoulderblades, because, you never know when he'll start acting up, do you?

You will also feel miserable when the well-behaved one gets down two stops before yours - it's too much to expect two well-behaved men sitting next to you on a single trip.

But no matter how much you steel yourself to it, sometimes, you will still get reduced to tears."

[go to the essay]

<> (via SM) China's Strategy of Containing India

<> (via wgaf) The Dark Side of China’s Rise

<> Woot, combining the sale of (questionable?) electronics with incredible humour, daily.

<> Anyone know a place where there's weather like this year-round? Tell me, and I'll start planning a move.

In celebration of the kind of truly bizarre and exhilarating weather, I'm Singin' in the Rain, as Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head regardless of Kubrick's butal and incredible 'use' of the song in A Clockwork Orange.

(Added later) and exulting on reading this :-)

When your chin turns out, and up, to meet the gulpworthy crisp air...
toh samajh lo, dilli mein raat baarish hui hai.

<> From RSJ's list of gigs,

"EXODUS... is coming to Calicut... will be playing at Cherootty Memorial...Time: 7PM onwards // Entry: Rs.100 per head... You can carry in your own booze. The event will be produced by..."

'Carry your own booze' ? Hmm/Wow.