Tag Archives for India
Monkeys steal coronavirus blood samples in India
I know if I were a plague, I’d be convinced by Indians burning toilet plungers and chanting
Bollywood ‘superhero film’ Pad Man about menstrual hygiene
But that’s exactly what action hero Akshay Kumar did as he promoted his film Pad Man, which opened in theatres Friday. Kumar plays the lead role of a man who starts manufacturing inexpensive sanitary pads after he discovers his wife’s lack of access to them in a small town in southern India.
Armed guards for tomatoes in India as prices rise
The price of tomatoes has risen so much in India that armed guards have been deployed to protect shipments of them in one state.
The Hindustan Times on Sunday cited a wholesaler at a market in the city of Indore, in Madhya Pradesh state, saying that the security of tomatoes was of “considerable concern” because of their “skyrocketing” prices.
The wholesaler said the administrators of the Devi Ahilya Bai Holker market had appointed half a dozen armed guards to keep the tomatoes safe – particularly when they are being unloaded from trucks.
There have been reports elsewhere in the country this month of thieves making off with tonnes of tomatoes worth thousands of rupees.
Cow Urine Floor Cleaner
The Holy Cow Foundation in India has succeeded in turning cow urine into a liquid cleanser that will soon be cleaning office floors throughout India. It’s calling this new product Gaunyle. It says that the cow-urine product is safer than synthetic cleaners, it’s “full of natural goodness,” and its use will provide income for people who raise cows. So overall, its use is a “win-win” for everyone. [economic times]
Pre-adolescent girls married to a wood apple fruit
Indian political activist organization launches soap, toothpaste and skin cream made from cow urine
The VHP is just not going to let go of the idea that cow urine is a magical elixir. They managed to start selling cow urine cola (Cow-Ka Cola?) five years ago, but didn’t stop there.
Now they’ve launched a full range of cosmetics (cowsmetics?) made with cow urine and dung. Not only do they believe that these have medicinal value, but also that these are better than the things you get in the market.
“The use of gau mutra in medicines and beauty products will help farmers and prevent them from selling cows. Ayurveda talks about use of cow dung to prevent pimples. But people are reluctant to use dung, which is why we are making beauty products out of it,” VHP leader Venkatesh Abdeo told the Asian Age.
This is the definitive list of what you can get your bhakt friends this Christmas:
Nandini beauty soap: (aloe vera, almond oil and gau mutra)
Lal Dant Manjan: (pudina ka phool, Babool Chhal (cow dung ash)
Harde Churna laxative: (harde soaked in fresh gau mutra)
Snannadi Vilayan bathing liquid: (gau mutra arka, hau maya bhasma)
Nandini skin cream: (gau mutra rasa, gau maya rasa, yellow beeswax)
Nandini dhoop sticks: (cow dung, and various herbs)As the saying goes, one man’s bullshit (or cow dung) is another man’s moisturizer.
Weird anachronistic colonial laws still in effect in India
If you happen to unearth treasure worth even as little as 10 rupees (16 U.S. cents) in India, don’t even think of pocketing it – that’s because under a law introduced by the former British colonial rulers, it still belongs to “Her Majesty”.
[…]
1838 law that says property in an area of the former imperial capital of Calcutta can only be sold to the East India Company, which laid the foundations of the British Empire but ceased to exist more than 150 years ago.
An 1855 measure removing a certain tribe from the purview of local laws because it was an “uncivilised race” will also go.
[…]
Flying kites or balloons without police permission is illegal across India as they are classified as an “aircraft” under a 1934 act, and a World War II decree outlaws the dropping of pamphlets from the air in the state of Gujarat.
Under the Motor Vehicles Act, the state of Andhra Pradesh enacted a law that a motor inspector must have a clean set of teeth and anyone with a “pigeon chest, knock knees, flat foot, hammer toes and fractured limbs” will be disqualified.
[…]
A swanky New Delhi hotel was threatened with a lawsuit for refusing to give water to a person who invoked an 1867 act under which a rest house must offer passers-by free drinks of water.
Factory owners have suffered at the hands of government inspectors who insist on rules requiring spittoons to be kept in the premises as well as earthen pots for drinking water. Even if factories install modern fire extinguishers, they must still have red-painted buckets with water and sand to put out a blaze.
India employs 40 mimics to scare off parliament monkeys
Forty young people are employed in India to impersonate monkeys to scare off real monkeys causing havoc around Delhi’s parliament, a minister says.
The men make screeching noises similar to those of black-faced langur monkeys, to frighten red-faced macaque monkeys.
Thousands of macaque monkeys roam Delhi’s streets, trashing gardens and offices and attacking people for food.
Details of the roles emerged in a parliamentary statement on Thursday by Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu.
Delhi’s civic authorities were earlier using real langurs to keep monkeys away from the parliament complex.
But the practice had to be abandoned after protests from animal rights activists and a court order that keeping monkeys in captivity was cruel.
Figures. Dumbasses.
Macaque monkeys are considered sacred by Hindus, who often feed them, encouraging them to remain.
“Various efforts are being made to tackle the monkey and dog menace inside and around the parliament house… The measures include scaring the monkeys away by trained persons who disguise themselves as langurs,” M Venkaiah Naidu told parliament.
This “very talented” group imitate the whoops and barks of langurs and hide behind trees to ward off the aggressive animals, officials of the Delhi municipality said.
Will S.' Random Weirdness Blog 