Rithwikipedia

It looks quite innocent and unthreatening. Helpful, even. And it is. In fact, the way it diligently dispenses cool water to the bored, half-dead bench force, might even lead the exceptionally naïve to momentarily believe that the ‘clear stream of reason’ has not lost its way into the ‘dreary desert sand of dead habit’.

But I digress. Let’s zoom in to uncover the secret that lay hidden before us in plain view. (Yes, I am channeling Dan Brown. Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll also. Write illogically broken. Sentences with superfluous italics. And sell. Millions of copies of banal thrillers. Millions.)

Now there is nothing quite interesting about the wave on the cooler until you see this…

Tada! This is the most well-known Japanese print called The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the first in Katsushika Hokusai’s series 36 views of Mt. Fuji. And if you remove the boats from this painting you pretty much get the image on the Aquaguard cooler with the Mt. Fuji intact!

I also found that this print has inspired Firefox themes and the logo of the surfwear firm Quiksilver, among possibly other stuff.

The Axe Dark Temptation ad has been banned in India. It has been labelled, 'indecent, vulgar and repulsive.'

Since previous ads have had similarly amorous stuff with real people involved, I am guessing the I&B Ministry just could not stand the trivialisation of chocolate. They have always held it close to their hearts for its charming character.

Although now, with sufficient publicity, people would seek out and see the ad, on youtube and elsewhere, just to find out why it was banned. And then maybe they would go buy Axes like never before.

Of course, if they just had to ban something to make up their ban quota for the year, I'd rather they ban the spread of misinformation, superstition and fear, by the likes of IndiaTV. But then these aren't remotely as terrible as the danger of girls all over the country breaking our noses for icecream toppings. Shudder. Or, horror of horrors, snack on our posteriors and fingers.

(Rashmi and Nikhil, point out other foolery. And call for bans of their own too - not the least as unwarranted, though!)

Baba Ramdev wants all the bars in Mumbai to be converted into yoga centres. Just as in the Cola Wars, he is promoting his own franchise by hitting at another.

That is all fine. Negative marketing is not as bothersome as banning. Bans are never a reason to rejoice. They just curb individual rights without serving the actual end. Gujarat, a dry state, has one of the highest consumption of alcohol - which is as it should be! Wink.

No one's forcing me to go to a bar, to drink, or involve with infamous bar dancers. But if I do decide to do the above, out of my own choice, I expect my decision to be respected. Somehow, a far removed group of people taking a moral high ground and deciding what is good for me, is something I am not okay with. But, that's just me. You may prefer dictatorial regimes to run your life for you.

Which is why I cringe when the Baba lauds the efforts of the Deputy CM of Maharashtra for banning dance bars in Mumbai. In fact, banning has probably been the single most unhealthy step for the dancers. I wouldn't be surprised to find a sizeable number of them afflicted by AIDS, by now.

I wonder what Baba has to say about Dr. Shilpa Shetty looting dilwalon ke dil ka karaar while also doing her yoga..


Further reading:
From Dance Bar Girls to Business Escorts.
Prostitution beckons India's former bar girls.
Dignity no bar.
India: Bar Girls Seek Rights.

A couple of hours ago, I just watched half of a NDTV 24x7 talk show on the limitations imposed on nightlife in Bengaluru.

It included the state's Home Minister, the Police Commissioner and a moral-police sort of guy who could very well converse in English and yet kept letting out superfast streams of Kannada righteousness. (It is quite possible that he didn't subscribe to notions of free discussion. And so, insulated himself from the arguments of at least the non-Kannada speaking people in the studio.)

From what I gather, the new rules state, besides others that I may have missed:
a) No dancing where liquor is served.
b) Only recorded music. No live bands.

What great benefits this would bring forth, is beyond me. Not surprisingly, the stipulations are very vague. A nighclub owner asked the commissioner: What if a customer enjoys the music — recorded of course — and starts swaying or shaking a leg? He replied that a bit of dancing at his chair can do no harm. On being asked as to why he can dance at the chair but not when a bit afar, the commissioner didn't have much to say. He just said that a designated dance floor shouldn't be there. Promising a workshop to help the club owners understand the vague laws, he moved on, (amidst much laughter) to claim B'lore as the most liberal city in the world, compared even to London and other metros.

Anyway, one would think that, what people do, in places they go out of choice, would not concern the government, or any other group for that matter. (Unless they do illegal stuff, or harm and nuisance is caused.) I wonder how Bengaluru is feeling right now, being told what is right, by a group of people who have no business in meddling with individual lives and rights.

It turns out that the moral police had also raided a party to demand an end to the festivities. In a not much polite or legit a manner, I presume. Yet the authorities prefer to spend their time policing morals rather than acting on illegal occurrences. Pitiful, no?

Well, till things change keep practising the moves with the curvaceous chairs..