Lost in Transliteration: Do Not Litter Signs in Mysore

At SKAR, it appears that 'Do not Litter' signs are a great source of inspiration.

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With apologies to the Chinese signs featured elsewhere on this site, the signs are actually quite readable in Kannada. It's the act of transliterating idioms from one language to another of a different family that produces these spectacular results.

With apologies to everybody else, this is 50% of the same "trick" that propelled Salman Rushdie's language use to fame. Except in Rushdie's case, the trick provokes learned papers in learned journals.

From an article in Poetics Today


Postcolonial Literature and the Magic Radio: The Language of Rushdie's Midnight's Children
Much postcolonial literature depends on unacknowledged processes of translation working like the "radio" in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children that magically renders all Indian languages intelligible to the children of midnight. It is surprisingly difficult to determine what languages the characters in Rushdie's novel are actually speaking; though there can be found in the novel several of the strategies Meir Sternberg identifies with translational mimesis (the representation of one language within another), the material substance of English is important in much of its dialogue. Arguably, the English language itself is the magic radio by means of which meaning becomes accessible in Midnight's Children—and Rushdie's own comments reveal ultimately that he evaded the issue of the underlying languages the characters are speaking.


What and all these radios say, ya. Simp-simply giving gyan left, right and center

Man Killed by Bull in Pamplona

Another thing I don't understand. A 27 year old man dies in Pamplona last week during his 7th running of the bulls. The entire episode seems to be captured on video, but I was too gore-shy to look.

The bull, named Capuchino, is then killed by a matador at a bullring in Pamplona

I don't have the deep cultural context to understand this, but it does appear ridiculous that
a. the bulls are marketed from being from violent, goring stock
b. that somebody would voluntarily do this seven times in a row.

Just a tragedy. I wish it hadn't happened.

Save Savita Bhabhi is dead (will Savita Bhabhi follow?)

As predicted here, the Save Savia campaign is dead

"Deshmukh", the founder, has revealed his identity as a 38-year old second-generation UK Indian but to no avail.

75% of the website's traffic comes from India, so this may be the end for this particular site (though the fantasy will likely live on). The other option of course is that Bangladesh really picks up.

This just goes to illustrate the market dynamics of a SKAR cycle.

Unmet need -> Ridiculous product (toon website) -> Ridiculous response (righteous dissenters) -> Ridiculous reaction (heavy-handed response) -> Ridiculous counter-response? (still waiting...)

Dead Man Walking / Association of the Dead

Another SKAR classic. The Mritak Sangh (Association of the Dead) founded by people in India who have incorrectly been registered as dead.

Forget the "Carlos the Jackal" loophole in British documentation, this one is too bizarre to be anything but true. From a Time Magazine Article in 1999:


"I'm here. I'm alive," Lal Bihari told revenue officials after discovering he was listed as deceased in 1976. "That may be so," an unruffled clerk replied, "but according to my books you're dead." It took Lal Bihari 18 years to get his life and his land back. During that time, he added the word Mritak, or Dead, to his name and to prove that he was living sought arrest, tried to run for parliament, kidnapped the son of the uncle who had stolen his property, threatened murder, insulted judges, threw leaflets listing his complaints at legislators in the state assembly and demanded a widow's pension for his wife.


Wow. now that's what you call a Dead Man Walking.

Lal Bihari (born. 1961, dead. 1976-94, reborn 1994-date) founded the Mritak Sangh for other like him, who have been dispossessed by the Indian land registry records. The organization supposedly has over 400 members today, and has managed to declare 4 of them "alive"

His story has served as inspiration for the movies, and in 2003 Lal Bihari was the recipient of the IgNobel Peace Prize "for a triple accomplishment: First, for leading an active life even though he has been declared legally dead; second, for waging a lively posthumous campaign against bureaucratic inertia and greedy relatives; and third, for creating the Association of Dead People."

Lal Bihari overcame the handicap of being dead, and managed to obtain a passport from the Indian government so that he could travel to Harvard to accept his Prize. However, the U.S. government refused to allow him into the country. Spoilsports.

The opening scene of the movie Barah Anna is based on Lal Bihari's life.

Long Live Sri Lal Bihari!

Never the twain shall meet...or should they?

At SKAR, we pay special attention to the meeting of worlds that ordinarily never collide. Turskish TV game show and Religion? Who would have thought. This is the premise of the show:

Muslim imam, Christian priest, rabbi and Buddhist monk are put in a room with 10 atheists. These spiritual leaders, have to convince the non-believers to join their religion. The prize for converts will be seven days fully paid vacation on an island of their choice. Just kidding. The prize...the grand prize (drum roll please) will be a pilgrimage to a holy site of their chosen religion -- Mecca for Muslims, the Vatican for Christians, Jerusalem for Jews and Tibet for Buddhists.

We highly support this madness. However, one very large religious group seems to be missing. An act of omission by design because we Hindus are just too crazy for TV? Well if the Turks wanted some real entertainment they would involve us. At SKAR we think Naga Baba Bir Giri Ji would gladly participate in the show (if he can't convince he will coerce by threatening to rub his belly on you):

And of course the grand prize will be a trip to the largest gathering in humanity (the last one was attended by 60 million people!): The Kumbh Mela:

Random Acts of Epic Weirdness

What would an Indian American Idol look like? Perhaps a competition called Bizarro Baba?Our three nominees are:

Raise the Roof Baba:This dude decided to raise his right hand and keep it raised for over two decades. We applaud his single-handed dedication. Who doesn't like someone with a permanent high-five? Apparently this brings him closer to attaining nirvana. 

Rolling Baba: Mohan Das, or "rolling saint" is a sadhu promoting peace by rolling his body along the ground when he travels. He has covered over 18,750 miles across India and most recently decided to "roll" into the Pakistani border. He was stopped at the border. Border Security Force official L.R Yadav said authorities had no choice but to turn him away:

" He does not have the required travel papers. So quite naturally, we do not have orders to allow him to cross." Way to go Pakistan. Follow the strict letter of the law when a man rolls into your country. He holds a Guinness record for longest rolling at about 9,845 miles.

Silent Baba: This Baba, decided to take a vow of silence for the majority of his life. He was silent from July 10, 1925 to January 31, 1969 (44 years!) 

Who is the winner? The weirdict is out.