Of course one could interpret it as – “Reward your spouse by gifting them a car”. But that’s really not what this is about, is it? Even if the advert didn’t intend it, it makes these subtle nauseating suggestions. Because we all know the rules of gifting at weddings. We know who’s supposed to “give a gift” and where it fits within the spins of traditions.

The PR for the campaign says

Volkswagen conducted research, in which it found out that the increasing purchasing power of the young individuals spend money on purchasing expensive gifts, especially for marriages. So the company tend to target the affluent Indian buyers. Raja also added that, these days everyone tend to spend a lot of money on marriages, the gift will anyway fit the criteria. As the young Indians are brand conscious, trend setters and active social life. The wedding season in India will continue for the coming three months and the company wishes to flash the ad till January.

But maybe it’s just me reading into these things. That’s how I am – easily offended.

Never mind the fact that it exoticises, trivialises and does a thousand other unacceptable things in the grand scheme of post-post-colonialism.

The reason it annoys me is that it makes Indian/ South Asian women sound like some sort of breed of dogs. Like we are all Labradors, with minor diferences in colouring, temperament, eye shapes and fluffiness of coats.

All labradors are beautiful, not all Indian women.

Girls who become part of a new family after marriage must assume their new surname and all the responsibilities that come with it….

That’s a message not just to my sisters, but to all girls who hang on to their parents’ surname. That’s become fashionable these days. But I strongly feel that doing so disrespects the person they have married.

And then this (via Ra)

He has to take the decision. I take permission from him even if I have to go for coffee or dinner with friends. My priority is my family. He will decide if it is right or not right for me.

Never mind how regressive this is. People are entitled to the lifestyle they choose. And if a control-freak type environment is what they like, good for them. But I can’t understand how this system works. Do you call your husband constantly and ask “Can I drink coffee with so-and-so?”. “Is it okay to share a plate of vada-pav with so-and-so”.

Most importantly, I wonder what happens when she has to go potty.

Which reminds me, does Obama ever make a bad speech?

On that note though, here’s my quota of wtf for the week. NY Times tells me that at some point in time Sarah Palin was involved with this.

When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the small town began billing sexual-assault victims for the cost of rape kits and forensic exams… Ms. Palin owes voters an explanation. What was the thinking behind cutting the measly few thousand dollars needed to cover the yearly cost of swabs, specimen containers and medical tests? Whose dumb idea was it to make assault victims and their insurance companies pay instead? Unfortunately, her campaign is shielding the candidate from the press, so Americans may still be waiting for answers on Election Day.

The rape-kit controversy is a troubling matter. The insult to rape victims is obvious. So is the sexism inherent in singling them out to foot the bill for investigating their own case. And the main result of billing rape victims is to protect their attackers by discouraging women from reporting sexual assaults.

One wonders though. If institutions were actually to offer insurance to cover expenses of being raped, the state might take the cause of preventing rape more seriously. Ugh. Double ugh. And a wtf.

It annoys me immensely that Europe (especially Mainland Europe) is so averse to the Swastika, that in some countries you can be arrested for just drawing the damn symbol. Some madman decides to take the symbol, slide it around and after that the Swastika is forever a symbol of intolerance and genocide. But TechCrunch seems to feel really smug by writing this

It looks like a successful spamming attempt, but given the number of queries Google handles it looks to be pretty sophisticated – at one point it was the number one query. We’ve pinged Google for a comment.

Update: It’s now been removed or has fallen off the hot trends list.

This is the Swastika. It is an elegant, beautiful symbol. It has nothing to do with murder or racial arrogance or anything else. When Shefaly points this out to TechCrunch, this is their response- “chill the hell out. We all understand that, but a swastika appearing on the top of google search queries in the U.S. isn’t normal.”

The tone of TechCrunch bothers me. The only interpretation allowed on an otherwise global medium is the one that US sanctions. The other person who really annoys me? A certain Rajan Zed whose sole aim in life appears to be to boycott The Love Guru. Apparently all us Hindus are really offended by the use of the word Guru as it creates a bawdy image of Hinduism. Well Hinduism is a very bawdy religion. Our Gods and Goddesses get drunk, have kids outside of wedlock and randomly lose control. This sanitized version of Hinduism – sans the Swastika, sans the bawdiness bothers me. Ugh. So this Rajan Zed chap frequently spams a lot of desi inboxes with emails about his greatness and the sheer pain the “Hindu Community” feels.

Hindus world over are deeply concerned about the apparent denigration of their traditions by this movie portrayal of Hindu characters like buffoons and parody of yoga, which is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. In Hindu tradition, guru is sacred and associated with the divine and leads disciples from darkness to light; and guru-disciple relationship is at the heart of Hindu tradition, Zed clarified.

I don’t need a spokesperson. Never asked for one. TechCrunch is now telling me what is “normal”, and Zed is telling me that I am a “pained Hindu”.

Update – Google apologizes for allowing inappropriate content to appear!

I wonder if the guys who came up with the campaign got hold of the most perverted individuals and conducted a few Focus Group Discussions, at the end of which stalkers were murmuring appreciatively. Yuck!

Imagine remaining absent from duty for 15 years and still retaining the job. And to top it, securing a court order for payment of half the salary for the period.

This is the case of West Bengal resident S.N. Das, who was able to retain his job as assistant engineer with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) without attending office for 15 years. Besides, the Calcutta High Court also ordered the AAI to pay him salary for half the time.