India is bent upon (pun intended) getting asses in the airline seats one way or another. According to Being Reasonble, yoga, is India's Department of Tourism's latest pitch vehicle.

I actually like the kitschy art work. Will the ad campaign work? Is there a way for the DOT to actually track this campaign?

I heard from a faithful reader of this blog today that my instructions for receiving Thrity Umrigar‘s novel The Space Between Us was, well, a bit ambiguous.

So, let me set the record straight. To qualify for the giveaway:

1) Go check out my new wedding photojournalism blog called bliss
2) Sign up to subscribe to the Feedblitz feed on that site – you will see the subscription form on the right hand side [yes, you may unsubscribe after this contest if you wish] 3) Confirm your subscription – you will receive an automatic email from Feedblitz asking if you really want to sign up for bliss
4) Email me your name, address, telephone number from your email account. The email address you should send me this info to is – tiffinbox [at] pipalproductions [dot] com. Subject line should read: “Tiffinbooks Offer: Thrity Umrigar's The Space Between Us.”
5) I'll verify that you have indeed subscribed to bliss and will put your name in a hat with others
6) One randomly chosen name will be the recipient of one copy of the book. Once you win, your name will be removed from the hat. To remain in the contest through the next seven weeks you have to remain subscribed to bliss.

Simple, right? So, good luck.

Please note: All names and contact information will be kept confidential and will not be sold, rented or bartered away. I take your time and privacy very seriously. I hate getting spammed and I hate spammers too. The information you provide me will be used to send you the book, should you win. You may also occasionally receive information about my photographic projects. You are free to unsubscribe from my mailing list(s) at any time.

I have six books left, now that Zehra Khan has laid claim to the first giveaway of the week. Thanks for playing Zehra.

Technorati Tags: bliss, books, contest, Pipal Productions

Check out my new advertisement for the Spring issue of Shaadi Style magazine.

It's things associated with my wedding photojournalism business that has kept me busy. And busy generally means I have kept myself out of trouble.

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Wedding Photojournalism, Seshu, Pipal Productions, Shaadi Style

gMail, which I use extensively, has finally offered the all-mighty DELETE button now outside the drop-down menu. Phew! What took 'em so long? It was a major pain in the arse to delete multiple messages all at once.

I have some 100 gMail invites to give away. Here is how you can get one: 1) Go to bliss, my wedding photojournalism blog, 2) copy and paste any of the post headlines you see there in the text of your email and 3) send it to me at at tiffinbox [at] pipalproductions [dot] com if you are aching to have a whopping 2 gigabyte email account. You will have it set up in no time. You will thank me later, especially when it comes to finding old emails; gMail can't be beat.

What will I think of next to give away for free? Hmmmm …

Technorati Tags: gMail, User Interface Design

Rough Cut: India is Frontline/World‘s 20-minute online video about three Indian-American girls who were adopted from a Calcutta orphanage and return to India for a visit. The film is by Sasha Khoka.

“It is a cinema verite story, rather than the usual reporter-narrated journey that is our trademark. And as an international television program and Web site, we don't normally cover stories that begin in the United States and focus on Americans. But that's why we named our program of online videos Rough Cut. It's an opportunity for us to try something different in our search for the most intriguing ”stories from a small planet.“

Give it a look-see.

Technorati Tags: documentary, film, India, Calcutta, culture