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Keep up with the blog at: http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/

Sri Lanka's war

The Economist's essay on Sri Lanka "A war strange as fiction" is a concise, objective read with surprising more ...

Sending Chhoti to college

Parents, are you worried about sending Chhoti/Chhotiu off to college in the US, UK, or Australia? more ...

Indra Nooyi and immigrant business leaders

With today's sidebar news of PepsiCo's acquisition of an Ukrainian juice company, the approving business journalist gaze is back on PepsiCo's CEO: Indra Nooyi. more ...

Desi startup spotlight - Slideshare

Looks like I'm late to the Slideshare party, but I'm pretty excited to find it more ...

Get your Bible on - Desi Adams teasing Eves

Last October an Australian imam from Egypt, Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly, caused an uproar by proclaiming more ...

G8 - Trippy Hippies vs The Real World

This year's G8 is presided over by Germany, where the annual summit is being held more ...

The mythical American divorce rate

Education and earnings are positively correlated, and they empower independence of thought and action. With the growth of both, Indians are increasingly unwilling to remain in unhappy marriages more ...

The globetrotting Indian

In a recent survey of Expedia 15,000 hoteliers were asked to rank tourists by nation on behaviour, tidiness, politeness, willingness to speak the local language, noise, spending and fashion sense more...

Here we are now entertain us (?)

Capitalism and the bottom line has put a very definite focus on entertainment media; however, are broadcasters and newspapers also obliged to deliver other content, such as news research more ...

US remembers its fallen soldiers

Tomorrow is the US holiday 'Memorial Day' a day marked for the rememberance of those who have died for their country (the US). As expected, the US media has a lot to discuss during this year's more ...

US National Guard offshoring their website development to India

While researching Indian web shops for my other projects, I came across UrbanEye.com, which includes the US National Guard's website in their portfolio. I don't blame the US military for selecting these guys more ...

Om shanti ... (patience, tolerance, annoyance and kids)

After discovering some great blogs I mentioned earlier, I've been visiting them fairly regularly. On IndiaUncut, Amit relates his own encounters with rowdy kids after being inspired by LiveMint's Vir Sanghvi's post "Honey, I lost the kids (I think the brats parachuted)." more ...

South Asian blog shortlist

Sree Srinivasan a SAJA (South Asian Journalists Association) member and blogger compiled a list of his favourite Desi blogs: http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/05/blogs_favorite_.html

I've included the ones he, as well his commenters, listed more ...

Swish those saris and salwars!

Not sure yet if this will be a useful site, but they do have some dialogue at IndusLadies in Sydney. The discovery of that forum has revived a question I've pondering since moving to Sydney.

A lot of South Asians migrating to Australia are doing so on the combined qualifications of husband + wife teams more ...

Big Bazar vs real bazar

The success of Big Bazar and the tempting USD 330 bn Indian retail industry have prompted joint ventures so that Walmart (+ Bharti) and Tesco (+ Tata?) more ...

SMH blogger weighing in for immigrant cabbies

Originally found at Adrian's cablog, here's a popular Sydney Morning Herald blogger weighing in for immigrant cabbies:

Cabbies: our cultural punching bag
...imagine this. Next month you will move to Turkey for the rest of your life and be unable to use any of your career skills because the university or TAFE you went to is obviously staffed by morons and they don't accept your qualifications in the land of the Ottoman.

Expatriate Writing Contest

If you like to write or have had some writable expatriate encounters, firstly, why aren't you adding to Chingri Maachh??? and secondly, you should consider submitting more ...

2007 - Year of India

You may have seen the Times of India 'India Shining' commercial with Amitabh Bachchan or their Bombay ad on Mala’s blog. I was left wondering as to what they were in aid of more ...

The Namesake

My disappointment in the book, The Namesake, made me skip the movie adaptation. Upon discovering that it was uploaded to my favourite streaming video site more ...

Where in Australia are expats headed?

Interesting poll results from gettingdownunder.com, a site aimed at (I think) British expatriates more ...

Tara Rum Pum and spitoons

NASCAR the American National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing attracts a demographically homogeneous audience. Of the 75 million NASCAR fans, most identify with right-leaning conservative ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-15-tara-rum-pum-and-spitoons)

Make like a VC

I first read about microlending, and websites implementing it, around four years ago, but was still surprised by last year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank. ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-14-practice-financier-ing)

Bombay, continued

Out of all the amazing Bombay-pool Flickr photos, I felt this one by Shubhangi Athalye deserved ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-13-bombay-continued)

Literature-inspiring cities

I had difficulty trimming my list of books about Bombay to the “top three” favourites. There were many ties, and many yet to be read. While it's my memories and love of the city ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-13-literature-inspiring-cities)

Outsourcing != Offshoring

Outsourcing has inaccurately become synonymous with offshoring. Outsourcing preceded offshoring by a few decades, and was initiated by companies focusing on their core competencies and eliminating non-contributing in-house departments. Offshoring, the more recent controversy is one of globalisations’ many repercussions. ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-09-outsourcing-offshoring)

Indian/international students in Australian universities

Inspired by this article about Indian students in Australian universities has revived my interest in providing information specifically for students/potential students Down Under. ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-08-indian-international-students-australian-universities)

Petitioning Deepa Fernandes to return to Sydney

I like to leave the radio running in the background as I go about my business. And depending on how close we are to our monthly download quota I either pick the American National Public Radio's (NPR) online radio stream or Australian indie music (FBI). ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-03-petitioning-deepa-fernandes-return-sydney)

Picking an Australian city based on your fauna preferences

I think the following information regarding the following fauna preferences for Australian cities would definitely have influenced my decision as to which city to head to first ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-02-picking-australian-city-based-your-fauna-preferences)

Tests, Giving and Taking

Late in 2006 Australia proposed new citizens would be required to take a formal test. The UK introduced their test in 2004, and the US in 1986. Each test has a different aim ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-01-tests-giving-and-taking)

Sydney Crystal Car Washers

I’m fascinated by the Crystal Car Wash promoters I usually see at the corner of Old South Head and Blair. They look like bored-out-of-their-gourd Indian students. But there must be a catch (cash?) because there is a never ending supply of them, and they feature all over Sydney ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-may-01-sydney-crystal-car-washers)

My Sydney cabbie from Bombay, via Tehran and London

I can't believe I postponed putting this down for so long, its already fuzzy at the edges ...

A few months ago I was at the German consulate on a visa procurement outing. Even though it was work related, I had only been with the company a short while ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-30-my-sydney-cabbie-bombay-tehran-and-london)

Whew!

With Chingri Maachh finally live, I have to prioritise my 'next steps'. The following seem equally important, but that would require multi-tasking to an extent I am incapable of ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-30-whew)

Discussion forums 'howto'

Once you've read the 'sticky' at the top of the discussion topics, just click Post new forum topic. Both members, and guests ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-28-discussion-forums-howto)

Site live! (Alpha release)

Chingri Maachh finally went live (after some upload issues, followed by permission issues, followed by PHP version issues)!

'If you build it they will come'? Yet to be seen ...

Embedding videos in your blog 'howto'

Did you see my earlier posting of a Namak/Happy Feet remix? Found your own online video that you would like to share via your blog? Here's how you would go about doing that ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-25-embedding-videos-your-blog-howto)

Penguins sighted in Bombay!

Penguins in Bombay? Bollywood in the Antarctic? Oh the imponderables ...

Here's a fun video putting the song Namak from Omkara to a Happy Feet dance sequence ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-24-penguins-sighted-bombay)

Opinions, opinions, everywhere

This posting is primarily driven by my first posting on the discussion forum. I'm trying to demonstrate how to redirect general talking points from the forum to members' individual blogs.

Arranged Marriages

Inspired by surprisingly pragmattic advice by Slate's 'Dear Prudie' columnist. Prudence gave arranged marriage advice to an NRI in the US... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-24-opinions-opninions-everywhere)

Blogging tools 'howto'

The following is a screen shot of the blogging user interface. Use the editor to enter and format your blog text. You may also upload and use images as shown in the subsequent screen shots.

... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-24-blogging-tools-howto)

How to use Chingri Maachh

I've spent the last few weeks working out the functionality kinks of this site. All my blog posts have been queuing up in my head, so you can expect them all to blursh* out now. *blursh: blurt + rush out (100% made up) In my earlier post, I introduced Chingri Maachh as a site for Indian, and other subcontinental, expatriates enroute or already in, Australia. Here I'll discuss which features of the site can be used to accomplish said supporting of the community. This blog entry is also a first draft of what will go in the Help page.
Features

Information for newcomers

The pages linked to in the New Expats help ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-23-how-use-chingri-maachh)

About Chingri Maachh

Early on a Saturday morning I was shuffled through Immigration and Customs at Sydney Kingsford International, and continued to shuffle through my to-do checklist ...

• find a place to stay
• figure out health system
• get a job
• get stuff for place-of-stay
  • note to self: MO for purchasing said 'stuff': conveniences to normalize life, yet cheap enough to discard if an employment-related-relocation is required
• get a social life

... in pretty much that order of priority.

I wrote the above six weeks ago ... (... http://chingrimaachh.com.au/blogs/shrimpy/2007-apr-23-about-chingri-maachh)