Bharateeya Blog Mela - Diwali Edition

It’s finally here!! … Fresh off the press!! … Aaj ki taaza khabar!!

The Diwali edition of Bharateeya Blog Mela is here!!

First things first. This Mela should’ve gone up yesterday. Things got really busy here and as much as I tried to post it, I missed the deadline. What can I say!! … I’m sorry!! (I believe that’s how people say sorry these days!)

Secondly… Before I launch into the Mela, let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a VERY HAPPY DIWALI!!

Finally… this being the festive season, I have kept my editorial scissors in their box. All the nominations that I’ve received, have found a place on the Mela. Cool, eh?!

And before you start wondering if I’m ever gonna present the Mela… here it comes… the best of the best from the Indian Blogosphere!!

» It being Diwali, lets start off with a poem on Deepawali, from Jitendra Chaudhary’s blog. I loved these lines from the poem, “roshni toh mujhe sadak par lagey / sarkari lamp-post se bhi mil jaati hai / yeh deepak toh ashadeep hain jo asha ki kiraney failaata hain.”

» Yazad visits Kolkata (Calcutta) for the Liberty Art and Culture Seminar and is struck by how it has changed since his last visit. Check out his impressions of the City of Joy in O Calcutta!

» In Printing the future, Amol is impressed by Epson’s innovative technique of electronically printing circuit boards. Future’s already here, folks!

» MadMan is amazed by the alacrity shown by Bangloreans in Waiting for food, even though it’s just McDonald’s that they’re drooling over! Well, I do remember a similar craze for McDonald’s when it had opened it’s outlets in Mumbai, a few years back.

» Shanti posts some very interesting information about Adam’s Bridge, an ancient bridge between India and Sri Lanka. So, if you want to know More about Adam’s Bridge, check it out at once!

» Amardeep is intrigued by Pakistan government’s ban on food at weddings. He seems to agree that the trend of lavish spending on weddings, a South Asian obsession, should be curbed, but feels that banning food altogether is a ‘parody of totalitarian thinking‘. Check it out… No wedding food for you! And: the Freedom to be Frivolous.

» Jagadish points out that Indian farmers are using carbonated drinks as pesticides. Well… who can blame them?!

» Sandeep makes a point about Europe still being ignorant about the clear and present danger that Islamic fundamentalism represents today. He takes up the case of the murdered Dutch film-maker to exhort Europe to Wake up and smell the coffee!

» Kautilya applauds as the Congress Party offers VRS to its members, but realises the futility of this step because the politicians are not going to make it a success, given their reluctance to retire!

» A large part of the western world seems to be Worried that all jobs will be outsourced to cheaper destinations like India. Ashish posts Jane Galt’s justification that Indians keep going to the US to replace Americans because America makes things that are worth buying.

» It’s Ashish once again as he speaks about the link between Terrorism and the lack of freedom. Lesser the freedom, higher the terrorism!

» Pankaj Narula wonders about the question, “क्या देह ही है सब कुछ” (Is the body all that matters?). He wonders if people would be as obsesses with the body if we lived on a planet where clothes were not needed at all!

» The first of the two photo-posts in this week’s Mela is by Atul Arora. He posts the breathtaking views from atop the Hawk Mountain in हाक माउन्टेन की विहंगम दृश्यावली (A panoramic view of Hawk Mountain).

» The first edition of Anugunj, an excellent initiative… a Mela of sorts, of Hindi posts on a particular subject, goes live on Akshargram with ‘सधन्यवाद बधाईयाँ!!‘. It’s a collection of Hindi posts on whether the body is all that matters.

» In ‘जालघर के अँग्रेज़ी -हिंदी शब्दकोश‘ Ravi Shrivastava compiles a list of some excellent resources for English-Hindi dictionaries.

» Ninad Pandit’s photo-post, Mathura of the Cows, is apparently a scene from Mathura railway station where cows seem to have a free access.

» Chandrashekhar Bhosle’s Ode to Spare Parts is all about the gastronomical delights that are lined up on Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai during the month of Ramzan. Being a foodie, I just had to feature this post in the Mela even though it’s dated 12th November… a day beyond this Mela’s limits! Ohh… by the way, this post features Yazad sinking his teeth into some delicacies!!

» While we’re on the subject of good food, what better than a recipe from the master chef! MadMan gives us tips on How to make great fried rice on Chef’s Notes. Yummy!!

And on that epicurean note, we come to the end of the Diwali edition of Bharateeya Blog Mela! I hope you all had as much pleasure going through the excellent posts featured here, as I had in compiling and presenting them to you!! And don’t forget to send in your nominations to Patrix, who’s hosting the next edition of the Blog Mela. :-)

And on a personal note, I take this opportunity to announce a brief hiatus as I get ready to fly back to good ‘ol Mumbai (Bombay, if you’re so inclined) in a week’s time. Au revoir, folks!