So begins Swami Vivekananda‘s speeches on September 11, 1893 at The World Parliament of Religions, Chicago.

These speeches are just as inspiring as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech in Washington, DC. The similarities are staggering – both were men of the cloth, both appealed to our commonsense and both wanted us to be liberated in some shape or form.

Now you can hear Swami Vivekananda's speeches; Part 1 [7.16mb] & Part 2 [4.78 mb]. The file sizes are large and depending on how fast your connection is, you may stall more than once as you listen through it all.

Thanks JD.

Via Jason Kottke

“A rowdy group of ten young Indians walked in one Friday evening and occupied the restaurant’s large central table. Their response to no prices was to leave no money; they didn’t even tip the wait staff.”

This is at Babu, a restaurant run by Payal Saha, where the menu initially had no prices. You could pay what you thought the meal was worth. Interesting concept, wouldn't you say? But as my cheap desi brothers have shown, Babu was in danger of being deemed a soup kitchen for the can-pay. And there is this awkwardness of not knowing how much to pay and how much more to tip.

“A few weeks ago, prices were finally written into the menu: a three-course meal with wine comes to about fifty dollars a head.”

Ah, priceless.

Those of you who visit the site and not just get an update via email will find a few changes. First off is the space to the right for Paid Advertisers. India New England is a great little newspaper out of Boston run now by Poornima Apte. If you are thinking of freelancing in the North East that may be a paper for you to consider. The advertisement right below that is for Shaadi.com. Looking for the ONE? Well, give Shaadi.com a try. Click the link on my site and register for the service so that I know it works.

The big question is why – well, it's a no brainer. I spend a great deal of time on this site but it is expensive to run. Advertising is the only way to go for me to recover some of the costs. I will try and limit animated advertisements as much as I can. Personally, an image that twitches uncontrollably on a page simply must go, but the kind folks at Shaadi.com only have those types of advertisements available to me (now).

Lastly is a new feature called Tiffinbooks. After adding a zillion books to the left and right sides of this site and then taking them all away because they just seemed to clutter the site up even more, I am back to displaying only one featured book each month. This month it is Pooja Makhijani‘s book. Please click the link to buy the book and visit her lovely web site as well.

And, oh yes, if you know anyone who is looking to reach a staggering number of readers (hey, details only if you are serious), then I can clear some real estate for each advertisement at $50/month.

If India New England and Shaadi.com can do it, how about you?

Caption: Fifty-year old M. Padmavati's husband, Meesala Narsimhulu, killed himself on February 26, 2002 by consuming monocrotophos.

Down To Earth: 1, 2, 3 & 4.

“… many times the picture-making process does not begin when you click the shutter. The picture making process begins with pre-visualizing and understanding the core aspects of the story. If a reporter or editor cannot articulate what the story is about effectively then it will be very hard for you to meet or exceed anyone's expectations. The key here is that good journalism is a collaboration between words and images.”

If there were a loudspeaker handy this is the message I would be yelling out to everybody. Photojournalism is NOT just about photography. It's photography and journalism. Easy as that may sound, the misperceptions reign supreme even among journalists who write for a living. Dennis Dunleavy – thanks for expressing this topic so lucidly!

P.S. Please visit Dunleavy's new website.