culture?


The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spent just over Rs 380 crore (about half the price of a Jumbo Jet) on Chandrayaan-1, with 1,000 scientists toiling over it for three years. A similar effort by NASA or any other space agency would have cost at least five times more. In real terms, Chandrayaan-1 cost only about 4% of Isro’s budget over three years. How did Isro do it? “Optimisation,” says its chairman G Madhavan Nair, in an exclusive interview to STOI. “There are some tests the Americans would have done six times and we did only thrice. We scrutinise every parameter and optimised the tests. Yes, you may call it a calculated risk, but, touch wood, we have been successful with this approach so far.’
October 26, 2008, 2:32 am
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This cartoon is serious. My family has one that's as old, and intends to keep it going.

This cartoon is serious. My family has one that

Indians are known to be cheap travelers. Last year they made the cheapest commercially produced car in the world in the from of the Tata Nano. Now its the cheapest moon probe. Indians have always had a love of the economy class.



Do you speakuh in Indian? [Urban Dictionary does]
October 22, 2008, 5:00 am
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Have you ever been asked the “So, how do you say hello in Indian?” question, and instead of being considerate and saying “Namaste”, you decided to play the ‘you ignoramus’ tone of voice and said “there is no language called Indian”.

Following are some other words that are universal in India and can be called Indian.

Here and Here.

I didn’t know urban dictionary had them.  I’m sure if you’re Indian, you’ve used them often enough. If not, I’m pretty sure if you do come down to India, you will..:)



gulp…
October 21, 2008, 1:36 am
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Cultural coitus and music
October 6, 2008, 9:05 pm
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An exchange is what we’re all about. I learn from you. You learn from me. And what emerges is global. I’ve always wondered what the tag ‘world music’ is all about. But as I explore new sounds and try and identify what is me, I find out that the music i listen to has a lot to do with the fact that I am more of a global citizen than the generation before me. I am more wired/electronically inclined than they are, i have western influences in tase, but I am rooted in the culture of my own country. So I have three videos here, that will finally help me define how musical styles and cultures tend to affect each other, and how, what is produced down the line is a new style, more relevant to a more global generation that identifies with it. No wonder the style is often called the global underground.

Video 1: George Harrison of the Beatles, learns the sitar from Indian master Pandit Ravi Shankar. The sitar was then used in many of their tracks, and helped add a new dimension to their sound.

Video 2: Ananda Shankar, brother of Pandit Ravi Shankar, does a version of The Doors ‘Light My Fire’. He is the first Indian artist to adopt Western musical styles with the sounds of his sitar, and also add electronic influences.

Video 3: My generation. The resultant style of the musical coitus of the East and West. Anoushka Shankar. Daughter of Pandit Ravi Shankar, and step sister to Norah Jones,performing a genre of Indian electronica that sounds very global indeed. Its new, its conscious, its universal and its wired.