moothemagiccow: Please stop them, someone. Indian English has a masala not found in any other English in the world. I am lobbying to let it take its place as another kind of legitimate English, not as an incorrect version of real English. Like Indian food, Indian English has real flavour. Where else would they say things like:

* Don't stand in front of my back.
* A cow gives milk which we drink. Therefore it is our mother.
* Who took the breeze out of my cykill?
* Will you have some tea-shee? biscuit-viscuit?
* Why aren't you kneel-downing?
* Hurry-upping ma'am.
* Open the windows and let the atmosphere come in.
* Open the windows and let the Air Force come in.

Or the gentleman on the flight who told the stewardess: "I am vegetable but my wife is not and I will drink a Walking Johnny."

Or my yoga teacher who guides us into shavasana by saying: "Now be relax. Loose your body, loose your arms, loose your face. Let the breathe come in from the nostril and look at your breathe."

Or the nosey but well-meaning Punjabi couple, who within minutes, wanted to know everything about my life: "Pinky, are you married? Any issues? What does your husband do? What salary is he making? Where do you live? We live in Patel Nagar, right above Bhasin tailors, please come over. Do you like pickle, you can be having mine."

Or the school Principal who gave this speech: "The school is like a garden. You are the seeds, school is the soil. We will bury you in this soil, pour water of knowledge on your heads and one day you will become great phools."

What the hell...

Remember folks! "Protectionism" is a dirty, filthy word! It's Commiesocialism!
Trust me, I am your friend!

cheap_thoughts: Or the school Principal who gave this speech: "The school is like a garden. You are the seeds, school is the soil. We will bury you in this soil, pour water of knowledge on your heads and one day you will become great phools."

What the hell...


"Phool" = "flower" in Hindi and related languages.

Don't wait for your company to outsource your job. Outsource it yourself now!

Bennie Crabtree: Jesus fark, people. It is the twenty first century. If you are not prepared to move to a new country for your job, then you are either:

a) racist as all hell

b) too elderly to learn a new language

c) too stupid to live in our new globalized intercultural reality -sorry for your luck, it is not your fault

d) have too many children or too many sick relatives to care for at home - sorry for your luck, and yes, we do need to figure out how to work people like you into the new social structure.

You must not know much about India.

The Ganges River, the main source of drinking water, is literally a giant toilet. Not only is human waste dumped into it untreated, but industrial and chemical waste is also poured into it. Oh, and dead bodies are thrown in it. Oh, and people then bathe in it. I reckon you come out dirtier than when you went into it. Think about all that the next time you turn on a tap in India to get some water, brush your teeth, take a shower, etc. If you eat out, remember they cooked your food in this water - hence the guy earlier saying he got very sick from eating in places outside the hotel.

From Wikipedia:

Sewage from many cities along the river's course, industrial waste and religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics add large amounts of pollutants to the river as it flows through densely populated areas. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many poorer people rely on the river on a daily basis for bathing, washing, and cooking. The World Bank estimates that the health costs of water pollution in India equal three per cent of India's GDP. It has also been suggested that eighty per cent of all illnesses in India and one-third of deaths can be attributed to water-borne diseases.

Varanasi, a city of one million people that many pilgrims visit to take a "holy dip" in the Ganges, releases around 200 million litres of untreated human sewage into the river each day, leading to large concentrations of faecal coliform bacteria. According to official standards, water safe for bathing should not contain more than 500 faecal coliforms per 100ml, yet upstream of Varanasi's ghats the river water already contains 120 times as much, 60,000 faecal coliform bacteria per 100 ml.

After the cremation of the deceased at Varanasi's ghats the bones and ashes are thrown into the Ganges. However, in the past thousands of uncremated bodies were thrown into the Ganges during cholera epidemics, spreading the disease. Even today, holy men, pregnant women, people with leprosy/chicken pox, people who had been bitten by snakes, people who had committed suicide, the poor, and children under 5 are not cremated at the ghats but are floated free to decompose in the waters. In addition, those who can not afford the large amount of wood needed to incinerate the entire body, leave behind a lot of half burned body parts.

After passing through Varanasi, and receiving 32 streams of raw sewage from the city, the concentration of faecal coliforms in the river's waters rises from 60,000 to 1.5 million, with observed peak values of 100 million per 100 ml. Drinking and bathing in its waters therefore carries a high risk of infection.

The Ganges was ranked among the top five most polluted rivers of the world in 2007, with fecal coliform levels in the river near Varanasi more than hundred times the official Indian government limits. The Ganga Action Plan, an environmental initiative to clean up the river, has been a major failure thus far, due to corruption and lack of technical expertise, lack of good environmental planning, Indian traditions and beliefs, and lack of support from religious authorities.

And you say people are "racist" and "too stupid" for not wanting to work and live there? K.

Please do the needful....