Tiffinbox

Tiffinwallahs Come To The US

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Shivani Vora writes in The New York Times about a new trend in dining among us desis – having home-cooked meals delivered to us at our work desks. “Dubba-wallahs” are nothing new to folks living and working in Mumbai where the art and science and business of delivering food has been perfected that the enterprise is often considered a case-study in some of the top US business schools.

What's happening here is this – we want our sabzi and paraatas just the way mom used to make 'em. The demand is definitely there because we have little time to cook and Indian restaurants tend to shovel out the same stuff at us with little or no regard to quality. Quite frankly, Indian restaurants are really only targeted towards non-Indians.

Services like Annadaata are a terrific niche market but it is also a lot of hard work. And you sure don't want to get your orders mixed up. Imagine an irate vegetarian staring down some mutton koorma. It could get very ugly, very quickly.

Thanks to Sendhil Revuluri for sending me a link to this story. If you find desi-oriented articles on the web, please feel free to email me at tiffinbox [at] pipalproductions [dot] com.

The Rise Of New India

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“In the decade that I've been going to Davos, no country has captured the imagination of the conference and dominated the conversation as India in 2006.”

Fareed Zakaria's commentary in the March 6, Newsweek issue.

Charlie Rose is spending the week in India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is his first guest tonight. Check out his shows on PBS.

Add your comments below about both the article and the interviews [yes, you do have to register, but it is painless and keeps spammers at bay].

Should I Shoot, Or Should I Go …

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…. If I Shoot There Will Be Trouble, If I Don't It Will Be Double.

If you are a photographer – novice, amateur, professional staffer or freelancer, photographing on the subways can a dicey affair.

Alicia Wagner Calzada, president of the National Press Photographers Association, shares this video clip showing an altercation between a staff photographer and a New York City policeman who clearly does not know whether photographing in the subway system is permissible or not.

According to Calzada, “It illustrates a struggle that we are having with the right to take pictures in public places. As a bit of background, the NPPA (joined by several other groups) fought hard to block a proposal to ban photography on public transit in NY. It was defeated. But it appears they decided to enforce it anyway.”

If you are stopped by transit authorities or the police for photographing in the subway or train systems in and around New York City know that the law is on your side but it hasn't yet trickled down to those who enforce it.

If you are a photojournalist, are you to surrender to their directives to stop photographing? Or, are you prepared to challenge the officers and possibly get arrested ? As the photographer in the clip correctly states, most people will cease and desist rather than get arrested because no one wants to traverse the court system.

Ever wonder what the cost is for not telling the story? What kind of trouble will we be if all we are blanketed with is a sterile form of journalism – cleansed and approved by the authorities?

With profound apologies to The Clash for the title of this post.

[Link sent in by John Laxmi]
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