The Diwali Stamp petition I urged you all to sign is [groan] just another hoax. So says WNYC's Arun Venugopal [friend and now obviously super sleuth] in the latest SAJAforum.org post.

I'll be a little more suspicious now when I get this sort of junk in my inbox. With deep regrets and apologies to all who signed their name and provided the spammers your email address.

UGH!

Kiran Desai, author of The Inheritance of Loss, is the youngest woman to win the Man Booker prize. I do hope this love-fest for Indian authors never ebbs. Ultrabrown and Sepia Mutiny have their own salutes to her.

The Online Photographer Bookstore

PixelPerfect from Bert Monroy [via John Nack]

Stunning Nikon

RadiantVista has some terrific Photoshop video tutorials and podcasts

DesignObserver talks about the 1922 Tiffin Directory

For some time I pooh-pooh'd desktop inkjet printers. But they really have evolved in the last four years. Check this CreativePro series out if you are considering buying and using one for your images.

Steven DeGraeve is a busy man. Look at all the utilities he has designed. Did I mention they were free?

Apple's Aperture and Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom do just about the same thing. Which one would you use for your workflow?

Platon speaks here and here

“Media-Convert is the best manner of converting audio files, video, presentation, document, spreadsheet, etc.” [via Steve Rubel]

Top web applications in India. At the near top are two matrimonial sites. Hmmm … Want to check out other upcoming Indian sites. This is the place to go.

I am going to get a couple of UPStraps for my cameras because the ones I have now cut right into my shoulders.

Thom Hogan's guidebooks for Nikon cameras [and other photographic devices] are legendary. Check his site out.

This YouTube clip made me smile. Xbox has arrived in India and in a big way. [Via Om Malik]

Via International Journalists Network

A grant competition organized by the Open Society Institute (OSI) will award grants of up to US$40,000 to innovative photographers worldwide. The proposal deadline is October 6. The Documentary Photography Project gives grants to photographers who partner up with news media organizations, NGOs, schools or other groups to publish documentary photography that works to stimulate constructive societal change.

Interested applicants must submit proposals that address a current social justice issue, especially those that relate to OSI’s work. Projects must use innovative strategies to present the work to the public such as: Web sites, podcasts, or traveling exhibitions.

OSI is a New York-based private foundation. It was launched in order to support former Soviet States transition from communism to democracies. It has since opened up projects in other areas of the world where the transition to democracy is of concern. Among the activities OSI sponsors are: grant making to strengthen civil society, education, human rights, legal reform, media and communications, arts and culture, among others.

For more information, or to submit a proposal, contact whjohnson@sorosny.org, or visit this site.

May be not school as we know it, but I am looking for a refresher. So today, I decided to register for two workshops.

I am heading to listen to photographer Kevin Ames at his Pro Digital Workflow seminar on October 22, in New York city.

Then on January 28, 2007, I will be attending the Epson Print Academy also in the Big Apple.

Will you join me?

With the wedding season waning, I have a little more time on my hands now to catch up on all my reading.

I received a copy of Upamanyu Chatterjee's book English, August a couple of months back and I have not been able to put it down. First published in 1988, according to Akhil Sharma who introduces the book, English, August was widely appreciated for, well, its honesty and humor. The story is about Agastya [or August] and his coming of age in the Indian Administrative Service. [no small feat]

When the whole world has decided to turn inward and become all so serious, a book like English, August comes along that says, “hey, it's ok to laugh at the system.”

The book has been republished here by the New York Review of Books and is available at all your favorite book stores.

I am often asked where I get the beautifully composed background music for the slide shows I produce for SAJA.

Well, wonder no more. Race to check out Dr. Krishna Raghavendra's updated website at http://www.raghasmusic.com. Turn up your speakers to hear MP3 snippets from his various albums and tool around the MP3 player designed by Jeroen Wijering.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am married to one of Dr. Raghavendra's daugthers. [grin]

I am a sucker for online petitions. They are usually fun, really easy to fill out and well, they usually get the job done. I received a note from a close family friend who urged me to sign what is clearly an annual drive for the US Postal Service to issue a Diwali stamp. Haven't they been trying this for years now?

Given that there are stamps for every other major religious group in the world, I think it is high time the US recognized Hinduism. So do me a favor and sign the petition. It takes all of about 20 seconds and you can choose to keep your email address private [just make it a legitimate one].

The count is now at 329,929. They need 500,000 to nudge the USPS to act on this appeal. Do it here.

Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan is on the road with workshops in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles about blogging. If you are a journalist, check out Sreenivasan's blog tailor-made for you

Dr. Atul Gawande wins a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. That's $500,000 “with no strings attached.” Nice.

Nirali magazine is back. Where did it go?

I have two extra signed copies off Alive & Clicking, a memoir by the legendary Indian photojournalist T. S. Satyan.

Want one? Write to me. Send me a link to a photographer's site I should feature here but haven't yet mentioned. I'll pick two winners and mail them the books [in the US or Canada only please].

This book isn't, to my knowledge, available in the US or Canada. It's a terrific read about how a photojournalist from Mysore made a name for himself in India.

UPDATE: Stephen Voss, a Washington, DC based photojournalist has won the first copy of T.S. Satyan's memoir by sending me Jan Grarup's dark and brooding website, Shadowland.

UPDATE: Loki Muthuramalingam has won the second copy of T. S. Satyan's memoir by pointing me to Dr. Vivek M. Vivek, to the utter chagrin of his parents decided to give up medicine in favor of photography! The good doctor happens to coordinate a “photo enthusiast community” in Bangalore which has its own Flickr page here. Loki is no slouch. Check out his own amazing work here.

“Indians have achieved more overall business success in less time in the U.S. than any other recent immigrant group. They have shown what can be achieved by integrating themselves into U.S. society and taking advantage of all the opportunities the country offers.”

Vivek Wadhwa, in Business Week, says Indians are model immigrants.

Are you feeling the heat now? Pen your comments here and tell me what you think about this article.