'Thin epidemic strikes' reports a leading daily. A shocking 60% of students are underweight, a 2009-10 report of the Education Ministry's dept of Student Welfare says.
I am not surprised. The wanna-be-thin-at-any-cost mania is quite visible all around us. Try shopping at any of the 'happening' boutiques in any of the metro's and the message is clear - If you're a size 'S', the whole shop is your oyster. An 'M' has some hope. Beyond that - forget it absolutely.
Thing is, the boutiques import clothes from Thailand and Hong Kong where women are generally petite. Whereas Indian women - even at their absolutely correct body weight in medical terms - are more curvy. Which is why to carry off clingy Western clothing, underweight is the way to go!
Now some girls may be born skinny, but others achieve skinniness and yet others will do anything to get that way. 'Anything' includes not just saying no to pakodas but skipping meals, or consuming the bare minimum.
And some of these 'girls' really should know better.
Ms. Shobhaa De, columnist, commentator on every which issue, marriage and family expert and mother to 4 young ladies in their teens and twenties weighs 52 kilos. At 5 ft 5 1/2 inches that's not exactly 'ideal weight range'. 58 kilos is more like what the doctor ordered.
Shobha De's 'diet'
Breakfast: 5 almonds 1 glass of warm water with tulsi leaves and honey.
1 whole-wheat toast.
1 cup of black tea.
Lunch: 1 glass of fruit lassi OR 1 boiled egg.
WOW - that must be filling!
Evening: 2 Marie biscuits with 1 cup of black tea.
Dinner: 1 portion of fish or mutton curry in Bengali preparation, a small portion of green leafy vegetables, 2 chapattis made from whole wheat Punjabi atta.
Calories consumed: Approximately 915 calories
Normal intake for adult female: 1800-2000 calories
Dietician Naini comments: “Shobhaa’s calorie intake is very low for a person who has such an active lifestyle. She needs to add more fruits to her diet and have a bowl of salad and some curd besides the lassi for lunch. Or maybe, she could do with an egg, a whole wheat toast and a bowl of salad.”
If a 50 + (almost 60 year old!) woman can be so paranoid about her weight as to skip lunch and practically starve herself, can you blame 16 year olds?
Talk about role models.
Men have stomachs, women eat air
The director of a Delhi-based management institute remarked there is a big problem when it comes to deciding what food should be cooked in the hostel mess. "The boys want parathas, cutlets, pakodas - the girls just won't eat that stuff... In fact they eat little, if anything at all!"
Actually, if you check out the canteen menus of most colleges, you'll find it hardly reflects the current obsession with thinness. The menus are stuck in the 1950s!
Counselling and educating girls, is fine. But, you can't fight a global trend. So making healthy eats more easily available is also important.
College managements need to take a fresh look at the food they're dishing out. Keep the samosas but also include some fruits, salads, fresh juices and even healthy alternatives to junk food like sprout bhel, chapati rolls and butter-free sandwiches.
The menu could even specify how many calories each item has to make it easier for the weight-conscious to stick to their diets. I am quite petite myself. And like someone else had mentioned in the comment section, I never gain weight even if I over-eat. I guess, I one of those lucky ones. Anyway, I think Shobha De will look much better if she gained a little weight. She looks too skinny, and her diet is responsible for it.
Looking good is necessary, but you should not be too obsessed with the thought that it leads you to starvation. It is good to exercise, and keeping yourself fit if you are overweight - for your own good. But being anorexic is not healthy either.
Exercising or having an active life style after all is too hard (I can vouch for that). Another instance of accepting the western definition of "in" thing with blinding stupidity. Incidentally, these are the people who devour pepperoni pizza with double cheese, but insist on diet pepsi/coke with less than 1 calorie! With enough advertising budget, you can convince people that they are outright dumb.
The root of all evil are those stupid ads on the television which drive people towards thinking that anorexia helps them look beautiful. What they do not realise is that Good on the outside, bad on the inside is going to get them nowhere. It might be palatable to earn a svelte figure, but watch your calories before you have nothing left to burn. Anorexic tendencies should definitely be curbed by self and see that restraint is more sensible. Eat and exercise but don't quit totally !
Enough food for thought... my lunch is waiting!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
'More than friends'
Salaam Namaste got released back in the year 2005. When I first heard the title I thought it might be a Hindu boy-Muslim girl kind of story in a modern context (although Preity's clothes were a little too tiny for that!). Then, the buzz was it's about a 'live in' relationship.
And now we know for sure - they do live in, but only as roommates.
They live together, but as friends, in different rooms. They're in a relationship… but then again they're not.
It was a Yashraj film after all - even if it was shot in Australia! But of course, it was hip, New Age and all that.
He's a Chef; she's a Radio Jockey. They're young, they're cool, they're independent –and together they make the BEST pair! Or do they?
My point is - of course they are going to realise it's true love at the end of it all. So the fun lies only in the meandering journey towards that end. Unfortunately, in real life it's far more complex.
Dost dost na raha...
One of the biggest dilemmas in life is realising that someone who is a friend, is also 'more than a friend'. It usually happens quite sneakily and unexpectedly and there - life is never quite the same again.
Now if this happens when you and your 'more than a friend' are both single, it's bad enough. But if either one of you - or both - are actually committed to someone else (at least in theory, if not practice) you find yourself in a heart rending hieroglyphic.
The thing is, love - or lust/ attraction/ gosh-I-want-to-know-that-person-intimately can happen to anyone, at any age. Not just at a convenient 23 - 26(for girls) and 25-30 (for boys) as all Indian parents would wish.
At which time they can offer their blessings along with gold sets and Kala Niketan sarees which they know you aren't going to wear anytime in the next decade.
Dil vil pyaar vyaar
The last time I saw a re-run of 'Love Actually'; a cheesy film on the whole but one with several poignant scenes, like this one:
10 year old Sam has just lost his mother, and his stepfather is worried - he's looking really bad.
Dad: "Sam - what's on your mind?"
Sam: "If I tell you and you can't do anything about it - is it OK?"
Dad: "Yes, of course".
Sam: "Dad I'm in love and she doesn't even know I exist."
Dad (taken aback): "Aren't you a little young to be in love?"
Sam: (glares): "No!"
Dad: "Well, Ok ... uh.. anyways I'm glad you told me. I thought it was something worse."
Sam: "Worse? What can be worse than the agony of being in love?"
So there you have it. Nothing can be worse. Or better.
And even if you do find 'The One' and make him/ her yours for life, be prepared for 'more than friends' feelings to arise with someone else, at some point.
The days when women met only dhobis and sabziwallahs and men sat with fat munshis behind the counters of shops are completely over.Temptation and interesting conversation lurks around every office corner!
As Psychology Today magazine notes:
Like every other kind of intimacy, the workplace variety brings with it the likelihood of sexual attraction. It is natural. It is inevitable, hard-wired as we are to respond to certain kinds of stimuli, although it sometimes comes as a surprise to those it strikes. But sexual attraction in the office is virtually inevitable for other reasons as well: The workplace is an ideal pre-screener, likely to throw us together with others our own age having similar socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, similar sets of values, and similar aspirations.
It also offers countless opportunities for working friendships to develop. As teams come to dominate the structure of the business world, the other half of a business team is increasingly likely to be not only a colleague with complementary skills and interests, but an attractive member of the opposite sex. As close as the collaboration between men and women workers can get at the office, it may be even more so outside it, as workers today function in an extended workplace of irregular hours and non-office settings. We are now more likely than ever, for example, to share the intimate isolation of business travel.
However, the article goes on to say:
"Sexual attraction can be managed. It is not only possible to acknowledge sexual attraction, but also to enjoy the energy generated by it--and without acting on it sexually."
Hmm. Right. Don't have your cake just look at it, imagine what it might taste like and channelise the imaginary calories into imaginary sex... It happens a number of times in every one's lives. The real idea of speaking through eyes is enough for a person to skip a beat. Its pretty obvious the moment one is interested in another, it is transparent. Its when the other person also responds when it becomes bliss, but the relationship doesn't always blossom due to some precarious reasons. Term it Ego Satisfaction, just enjoying the importance given by the opposite sex. But this is not a rule. Sometimes relationships do blossom.
I have been thinking on this point for quite some time. I heard this line in the movie "Hum Tum" where it said "ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi acche dost nahi ban sakte. Saala pyaar beech main aa jaata hai".
But seriously, of course we don't act on every impulse we get. And many attractions remain, known to both parties but not formally acknowledged. They just make life a little more interesting, but have the potential to make it all too complicated.
But seriously, of course we don't act on every impulse we get. And many attractions remain, known to both parties but not formally acknowledged. They just make life a little more interesting, but have the potential to make it all too complicated.
Best to let sleeping passions lie, than stare into each other's eyes and unravel the naked, boring truth.
And now we know for sure - they do live in, but only as roommates.
They live together, but as friends, in different rooms. They're in a relationship… but then again they're not.
It was a Yashraj film after all - even if it was shot in Australia! But of course, it was hip, New Age and all that.
He's a Chef; she's a Radio Jockey. They're young, they're cool, they're independent –and together they make the BEST pair! Or do they?
My point is - of course they are going to realise it's true love at the end of it all. So the fun lies only in the meandering journey towards that end. Unfortunately, in real life it's far more complex.
Dost dost na raha...
One of the biggest dilemmas in life is realising that someone who is a friend, is also 'more than a friend'. It usually happens quite sneakily and unexpectedly and there - life is never quite the same again.
Now if this happens when you and your 'more than a friend' are both single, it's bad enough. But if either one of you - or both - are actually committed to someone else (at least in theory, if not practice) you find yourself in a heart rending hieroglyphic.
The thing is, love - or lust/ attraction/ gosh-I-want-to-know-that-person-intimately can happen to anyone, at any age. Not just at a convenient 23 - 26(for girls) and 25-30 (for boys) as all Indian parents would wish.
At which time they can offer their blessings along with gold sets and Kala Niketan sarees which they know you aren't going to wear anytime in the next decade.
Dil vil pyaar vyaar
The last time I saw a re-run of 'Love Actually'; a cheesy film on the whole but one with several poignant scenes, like this one:
10 year old Sam has just lost his mother, and his stepfather is worried - he's looking really bad.
Dad: "Sam - what's on your mind?"
Sam: "If I tell you and you can't do anything about it - is it OK?"
Dad: "Yes, of course".
Sam: "Dad I'm in love and she doesn't even know I exist."
Dad (taken aback): "Aren't you a little young to be in love?"
Sam: (glares): "No!"
Dad: "Well, Ok ... uh.. anyways I'm glad you told me. I thought it was something worse."
Sam: "Worse? What can be worse than the agony of being in love?"
So there you have it. Nothing can be worse. Or better.
And even if you do find 'The One' and make him/ her yours for life, be prepared for 'more than friends' feelings to arise with someone else, at some point.
The days when women met only dhobis and sabziwallahs and men sat with fat munshis behind the counters of shops are completely over.Temptation and interesting conversation lurks around every office corner!
As Psychology Today magazine notes:
Like every other kind of intimacy, the workplace variety brings with it the likelihood of sexual attraction. It is natural. It is inevitable, hard-wired as we are to respond to certain kinds of stimuli, although it sometimes comes as a surprise to those it strikes. But sexual attraction in the office is virtually inevitable for other reasons as well: The workplace is an ideal pre-screener, likely to throw us together with others our own age having similar socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, similar sets of values, and similar aspirations.
It also offers countless opportunities for working friendships to develop. As teams come to dominate the structure of the business world, the other half of a business team is increasingly likely to be not only a colleague with complementary skills and interests, but an attractive member of the opposite sex. As close as the collaboration between men and women workers can get at the office, it may be even more so outside it, as workers today function in an extended workplace of irregular hours and non-office settings. We are now more likely than ever, for example, to share the intimate isolation of business travel.
However, the article goes on to say:
"Sexual attraction can be managed. It is not only possible to acknowledge sexual attraction, but also to enjoy the energy generated by it--and without acting on it sexually."
Hmm. Right. Don't have your cake just look at it, imagine what it might taste like and channelise the imaginary calories into imaginary sex... It happens a number of times in every one's lives. The real idea of speaking through eyes is enough for a person to skip a beat. Its pretty obvious the moment one is interested in another, it is transparent. Its when the other person also responds when it becomes bliss, but the relationship doesn't always blossom due to some precarious reasons. Term it Ego Satisfaction, just enjoying the importance given by the opposite sex. But this is not a rule. Sometimes relationships do blossom.
I have been thinking on this point for quite some time. I heard this line in the movie "Hum Tum" where it said "ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi acche dost nahi ban sakte. Saala pyaar beech main aa jaata hai".
But seriously, of course we don't act on every impulse we get. And many attractions remain, known to both parties but not formally acknowledged. They just make life a little more interesting, but have the potential to make it all too complicated.
But seriously, of course we don't act on every impulse we get. And many attractions remain, known to both parties but not formally acknowledged. They just make life a little more interesting, but have the potential to make it all too complicated.
Best to let sleeping passions lie, than stare into each other's eyes and unravel the naked, boring truth.
ABCD - Apna Bhartiya Chinese Dish
There are two kinds of office complexes in a metro - the fab and the drab.
The first kind consist of steel, chrome and glass. Blue and orange carpeting, Nescafe machines near the elevators - the kind of offices you see in interior design magazines.
The second are situated in drab 'industrial estates' which haven't been whitewashed since the last time Rajesh Khanna made a girl swoon... Which was, ahem, quite a while ago.
The one bright spot in these kind of office complexes is the canteen boy from the mandatory Udipi restaurant on the premises.
These grubby but ever-cheerful young fellas ferry coffees and dosas and samosas stuffed with the alu bhaji left over from lunchtime. Last week, our canteen boy proudly came and announced -'Ab Chainis start ho gaya hai'. Promptly, we all placed inaugural orders.
Be Indian, Eat Indian
Udipi 'Chainis' is a unique brand of cuisine, an advanced version of the Indian family of Chinese khaana peculiar to this part of the world.
Vir Sanghvi, writing in his 'Rude Food' column credits Nelson Wang of China Garden with 'inventing' Indian Chinese. That was in the early '70s. Before that a few fancy restaurants served 'authentic Chinese'. And it found hardly any takers.
Then, one day Wang deep fried some gobi florets, dunked them in a hot n spicy Indian style sauce and came up with the exotic sounding name 'Manchurian' and Chinese was permanently de-chinkified and took on Indian culinary citizenship.
Well, Udipi Chainis is the baap of even Indian Chainis. It consists of noodles or rice with finely diced carrot and French beans, cooked in an oily kadhai with generous slatherings of soya sauce. Then there are 'gravy items' with either chicken or veg fried something-or-the-others. Here the sauce is more viscous, garlicky and generally either dark brown or bright red. Actually in large parts of south India - especially in restaurants of mallu origin the name has been changed to "Manjuri" from manchurian!
I started appreciating the divinity (seriously) and deliciously different taste of “hamara” Indian Chinese food. Here'z to the Indians and there innovativeness in …..well everything ;).
Yes, Indian Chainees is quite tasty :-) but now we have moved on to the Chinese samosa...samosas with noodle stuffing...am sure the Chinese must be wondering why they did not think of this before...and no Gujju Chainees will work for non-veggie.
Believe me.. but the chinese in India tastes much better in India than what it tastes in China.. IT IS ABSOLUTELY EEEEEEKY..!!
The only good thing is that you realise that shcezwan and manchuria are 2 different areas in China and the food tastes differs with the regions.. while the schezwan prefer the hot food.. the manchurians are more towards the bland side.. also there is the third form of chinese food in China and it something with k.. i fail to recall the name.. anways.. Udipi chinese is a bit too much.. but it sure is no harm in trying..!!
We Indians have this habit of adapting to changes...but guess the common man will always get what he wants as far as food is concerned- Indianzied version of a foreign thing. Not only food but also if one remembers ad's of foreign products - the one that comes in my mind right now is that of a cellotape (see I made American scotch tape to English Cellotape - it had some punch line like "no kat-ka-tu" ...and all of a sudden it was given an Indian feel!
Its all about demand and supply after all!
Anyways my first crush with Chinese was when i had Sweet corn chicken soup at the famous Bheel restaurant in Udaipur long ago during my school days. It was an occasional indulgence as a change from home food.
Now, the real Chinese food is something no one can imagine. The first reaction would be yuccckk!!! How on earth can anyone eat something as bland as this? No wonder it's the "Indian Chinese" food that rules in India.
Imagine the head of the state in China literally holding a platter in front of the Indian counterpart for the sake of cuisine competition. This one's definitely a filler for the next Bollywood movie 'China Plate'.
And remember, Udipi Chinees is most compatible with that industrial strength Indian cola : 'Thums Up'. Enjoy the satisfying burp!
Bottomline: Indian food - especially curry and naan - has become hugely popular in many parts of the world. From there, it may just be a short step to 'Indianised' world cuisine - like Indian Chainis. Then maybe a further specialisation: 'Gujju Chinese'.
And thus, will India bring mighty China to its knees - begging for mercy!
The first kind consist of steel, chrome and glass. Blue and orange carpeting, Nescafe machines near the elevators - the kind of offices you see in interior design magazines.
The second are situated in drab 'industrial estates' which haven't been whitewashed since the last time Rajesh Khanna made a girl swoon... Which was, ahem, quite a while ago.
The one bright spot in these kind of office complexes is the canteen boy from the mandatory Udipi restaurant on the premises.
These grubby but ever-cheerful young fellas ferry coffees and dosas and samosas stuffed with the alu bhaji left over from lunchtime. Last week, our canteen boy proudly came and announced -'Ab Chainis start ho gaya hai'. Promptly, we all placed inaugural orders.
Be Indian, Eat Indian
Udipi 'Chainis' is a unique brand of cuisine, an advanced version of the Indian family of Chinese khaana peculiar to this part of the world.
Vir Sanghvi, writing in his 'Rude Food' column credits Nelson Wang of China Garden with 'inventing' Indian Chinese. That was in the early '70s. Before that a few fancy restaurants served 'authentic Chinese'. And it found hardly any takers.
Then, one day Wang deep fried some gobi florets, dunked them in a hot n spicy Indian style sauce and came up with the exotic sounding name 'Manchurian' and Chinese was permanently de-chinkified and took on Indian culinary citizenship.
Well, Udipi Chainis is the baap of even Indian Chainis. It consists of noodles or rice with finely diced carrot and French beans, cooked in an oily kadhai with generous slatherings of soya sauce. Then there are 'gravy items' with either chicken or veg fried something-or-the-others. Here the sauce is more viscous, garlicky and generally either dark brown or bright red. Actually in large parts of south India - especially in restaurants of mallu origin the name has been changed to "Manjuri" from manchurian!
I started appreciating the divinity (seriously) and deliciously different taste of “hamara” Indian Chinese food. Here'z to the Indians and there innovativeness in …..well everything ;).
Yes, Indian Chainees is quite tasty :-) but now we have moved on to the Chinese samosa...samosas with noodle stuffing...am sure the Chinese must be wondering why they did not think of this before...and no Gujju Chainees will work for non-veggie.
Believe me.. but the chinese in India tastes much better in India than what it tastes in China.. IT IS ABSOLUTELY EEEEEEKY..!!
The only good thing is that you realise that shcezwan and manchuria are 2 different areas in China and the food tastes differs with the regions.. while the schezwan prefer the hot food.. the manchurians are more towards the bland side.. also there is the third form of chinese food in China and it something with k.. i fail to recall the name.. anways.. Udipi chinese is a bit too much.. but it sure is no harm in trying..!!
We Indians have this habit of adapting to changes...but guess the common man will always get what he wants as far as food is concerned- Indianzied version of a foreign thing. Not only food but also if one remembers ad's of foreign products - the one that comes in my mind right now is that of a cellotape (see I made American scotch tape to English Cellotape - it had some punch line like "no kat-ka-tu" ...and all of a sudden it was given an Indian feel!
Its all about demand and supply after all!
Anyways my first crush with Chinese was when i had Sweet corn chicken soup at the famous Bheel restaurant in Udaipur long ago during my school days. It was an occasional indulgence as a change from home food.
Now, the real Chinese food is something no one can imagine. The first reaction would be yuccckk!!! How on earth can anyone eat something as bland as this? No wonder it's the "Indian Chinese" food that rules in India.
Imagine the head of the state in China literally holding a platter in front of the Indian counterpart for the sake of cuisine competition. This one's definitely a filler for the next Bollywood movie 'China Plate'.
And remember, Udipi Chinees is most compatible with that industrial strength Indian cola : 'Thums Up'. Enjoy the satisfying burp!
Bottomline: Indian food - especially curry and naan - has become hugely popular in many parts of the world. From there, it may just be a short step to 'Indianised' world cuisine - like Indian Chainis. Then maybe a further specialisation: 'Gujju Chinese'.
And thus, will India bring mighty China to its knees - begging for mercy!
Who let the dog out?
It's a word that's used to express anger, shock, awe, disgust - even joy. It's a word that's extremely commonly used in the everyday language of young people but one rarely appears in the mainstream media.
Yes, even I hesitate to use the F word - both in polite company and in my writing. But it's a question we have had to grapple with. When rock bands give interviews, for example, they often use the F word. And we censor the same by printing f***.
That has been the established convention. But does it make sense anymore? The F word is being used as a verb, a noun, an adjective, or merely for effect and attitude. It's lost its original meaning or edge.
Besides, the word commonly appears on the internet. Not cloaked under *** but in its full glory.
Conventional wisdom
But it looks like times may be changing... A recent issue of DNA - a completely mainstream paper with family readership - has taken the liberty of breaking the Rule.
In an interview with film maker Tarsem Singh published in the paper's Brand-Equity type supplement 'Ad Zip' the F word is used in full - not once but twice. Was this a policy decision, or a sub-editing mistake? Would be interesting to know! And was I the only one to notice or have there been a ton of responses - negative and positive - from readers?
My view is that certain lines have to be drawn and maintained. If newspapers started publishing news in sms format bcause that is the lingo of the day - well, that would be a rather sad day!
Which is why I can't really digest this strange bit of news: A high school in England is allowing the f-word to be used in each class, but only five times per class... What exactly is the message the school admin is trying to get across..??
Fuck is so cliched, that it's becoming lame to use it. : I avoid it, not because it's a 'bad' word, but it's a dumb word. The more the people say, the more it gets boring and meaningless.
People are often under the impression that using such words makes them hip! ofcourse, it's very common now-a-days but using it conscientiously to grab attention is somewhat awkward! Probably, the flip side of globalisation all this is... Are we just trying to sell or we're trying to make a difference here?
That journalistic convention is an extremely good idea and every bit of morality helps (or whatever is left of it, even in language). You could say 'oh everybody knows it, so what the hell'.
Don't do it (I mean don't use the entire word) just because the whole world is doing it. There may be very young kids (some rural, who knows) who may not be aware. Don't make them look up the internet or dictionary. Probably a little bit of innocence saved.
In fact, be the first to tell others why you won't use certain words or phrases in full, tell them your stand on such things. You might gain much more respect not just from them but also from their parents (who'll probably be paying for it).
This is one topic that really requires attention because of the attention that it is getting. The first thing I want to know is why the hell is it being glorified ?????? Its a politically restricted word....But why..when every person here is using it 100 times in a day.
The fact that even young school children use it just proves what a popular word it is...and the only reason I can think of is because its a restricted word...Why would parents want to explain the word to their children..Just tell them its a abusive word just like 1000 other abusive words....
Why does the word come with **** and make it stand out in any article or any column? The fact that it is singled out itself gives it so much of importance,,, Is it that the word not used directly affect its use.. It is used exponentially because of the special treatment it recieves.
People who want to use it will use it and people who dont want to use it will anyways not use it,.. Its a personal decision. So please Let be... Using the word in its full glory is something to be proud of. Its definitely not even a word a person would want to explain to children, so why make it so ubiqutious.
Call me old fashioned if you have to, but we don't need to get ultra-modern and lose. I read recently that the established brand FCUK is also thinking of changing it brand name / brand strategy as the name has not been viewed favourably in the West. Some of fragrances they launched recently were titled "FCUK Him" and "FCUK Her"
Using and noticing the F word in print is quite common and i dont think any one minds when the word is mentioned as f***.. so the point any way gets across.. Also the word is quite a common use in our daily lingo, hence no one really minds it but using it on teachers is taking it a bit far..!! and if so, then why only five times..
Well, times are changing - one has also seen variants of the word coming up. You should've noticed the sms lingo creeping into the normal lives - where the use of vowels is kind of becoming obselete.. Like in reebok - its Rbk now - Same with the F word - its now 'Fck' and u could easily call it a typo and ignore it.
The rule imposed there in US needs a similar one in India ? - There is actually not much of a need because students here have alternatives - bad ones so to say. I wonder how bad shoud be defined.
Is it an experiment in reverse psychology (allow them say it - then they won't feel like it?). Or one confused, desperate-to-be-hip school! What's next? Teachers lobbying to use the F word 5 times in every lecture, perhaps.
The world is well and truly fucked.
Yes, even I hesitate to use the F word - both in polite company and in my writing. But it's a question we have had to grapple with. When rock bands give interviews, for example, they often use the F word. And we censor the same by printing f***.
That has been the established convention. But does it make sense anymore? The F word is being used as a verb, a noun, an adjective, or merely for effect and attitude. It's lost its original meaning or edge.
Besides, the word commonly appears on the internet. Not cloaked under *** but in its full glory.
Conventional wisdom
But it looks like times may be changing... A recent issue of DNA - a completely mainstream paper with family readership - has taken the liberty of breaking the Rule.
In an interview with film maker Tarsem Singh published in the paper's Brand-Equity type supplement 'Ad Zip' the F word is used in full - not once but twice. Was this a policy decision, or a sub-editing mistake? Would be interesting to know! And was I the only one to notice or have there been a ton of responses - negative and positive - from readers?
My view is that certain lines have to be drawn and maintained. If newspapers started publishing news in sms format bcause that is the lingo of the day - well, that would be a rather sad day!
Which is why I can't really digest this strange bit of news: A high school in England is allowing the f-word to be used in each class, but only five times per class... What exactly is the message the school admin is trying to get across..??
Fuck is so cliched, that it's becoming lame to use it. : I avoid it, not because it's a 'bad' word, but it's a dumb word. The more the people say, the more it gets boring and meaningless.
People are often under the impression that using such words makes them hip! ofcourse, it's very common now-a-days but using it conscientiously to grab attention is somewhat awkward! Probably, the flip side of globalisation all this is... Are we just trying to sell or we're trying to make a difference here?
That journalistic convention is an extremely good idea and every bit of morality helps (or whatever is left of it, even in language). You could say 'oh everybody knows it, so what the hell'.
Don't do it (I mean don't use the entire word) just because the whole world is doing it. There may be very young kids (some rural, who knows) who may not be aware. Don't make them look up the internet or dictionary. Probably a little bit of innocence saved.
In fact, be the first to tell others why you won't use certain words or phrases in full, tell them your stand on such things. You might gain much more respect not just from them but also from their parents (who'll probably be paying for it).
This is one topic that really requires attention because of the attention that it is getting. The first thing I want to know is why the hell is it being glorified ?????? Its a politically restricted word....But why..when every person here is using it 100 times in a day.
The fact that even young school children use it just proves what a popular word it is...and the only reason I can think of is because its a restricted word...Why would parents want to explain the word to their children..Just tell them its a abusive word just like 1000 other abusive words....
Why does the word come with **** and make it stand out in any article or any column? The fact that it is singled out itself gives it so much of importance,,, Is it that the word not used directly affect its use.. It is used exponentially because of the special treatment it recieves.
People who want to use it will use it and people who dont want to use it will anyways not use it,.. Its a personal decision. So please Let be... Using the word in its full glory is something to be proud of. Its definitely not even a word a person would want to explain to children, so why make it so ubiqutious.
Call me old fashioned if you have to, but we don't need to get ultra-modern and lose. I read recently that the established brand FCUK is also thinking of changing it brand name / brand strategy as the name has not been viewed favourably in the West. Some of fragrances they launched recently were titled "FCUK Him" and "FCUK Her"
Using and noticing the F word in print is quite common and i dont think any one minds when the word is mentioned as f***.. so the point any way gets across.. Also the word is quite a common use in our daily lingo, hence no one really minds it but using it on teachers is taking it a bit far..!! and if so, then why only five times..
Well, times are changing - one has also seen variants of the word coming up. You should've noticed the sms lingo creeping into the normal lives - where the use of vowels is kind of becoming obselete.. Like in reebok - its Rbk now - Same with the F word - its now 'Fck' and u could easily call it a typo and ignore it.
The rule imposed there in US needs a similar one in India ? - There is actually not much of a need because students here have alternatives - bad ones so to say. I wonder how bad shoud be defined.
Is it an experiment in reverse psychology (allow them say it - then they won't feel like it?). Or one confused, desperate-to-be-hip school! What's next? Teachers lobbying to use the F word 5 times in every lecture, perhaps.
The world is well and truly fucked.
'And we all fall down'!
'End of life as they know it', reports the TOI.
Thousands of residents are being evacuated by MHADA following the 4th collapse of a century-old building in Mumbai. The media has already rushed out and labelled it an epidemic.
To reach it one had to climb a rickety flight of stairs. A portion of the building had collapsed some years ago - only the front was still standing. In defiance of the laws of physics, in all probability!
Chawl Chalan
I learnt a few things about residents of condemned buildings - not all of them are really poor. One of the residents was a Catholic family - a lady and two young infants. The father - I was surprised to learn! - worked in the merchant navy.
Why would a family that earned enough to move elsewhere choose to stay in a 100 sq ft space? A space where you had to cook your food in a corner of the 'living' room, and queue up for a communal toilet every morning?
The question bothered me.
By this time I'd figured out that chawl furnishing did not vary much. Chiefly, it consisted of:
* One really Large Bed which serves 2 purposes: you sleep on it; store your worldly possessions under it!
* One TV - precariously perched on a metal/ wooden shelf
* One stove in the 'cooking corner'.
Stuck in the past
Another old couple residing in the same building - but in a much smaller size chawl -had 2 sons living in Dubai, and one quite well to do daughter in Thane. Despite pleas from the kids, this couple would not consider moving.
'Yehi hamari life hai', they believed. This was their comfort zone; their extended community.
Yes, the prime location of the building had attracted many builders who promised to convert the mess into a skyrise - along with flats for the original tenants. But doing this required the signatures of all existing tenants and owners and getting that was proving impossible.
Many tenants believed they would be out in the cold - and that was not a fear unfounded. There are horror stories of families stuck in 'transit' camps for years and years. There are horror stories of tenants never receiving their promised flats. And so on and so forth.
But at the heart of the matter lies the unwillingness of most chawl residents to contemplate change. To be happy with whatever they have, and not strive for more - whether individually, or collectively.
Take the merchant navy family. If it did move, yes there would be some initial separation anxiety from the old milieu. But in a few months time the luxury of space, of modern amenities like personal bathrooms, the privacy - all these would make it impossible for them to move back!
Time to pay up
I personally feel the squatter mentality has to go - rents frozen since World War II have to revised upwards. Perhaps not all at once, but a start must be made somewhere!
Many rent-controlled properties are sub-let at handsome prices; others used as commercial space. So it's hardly a case of protecting the poor. A survey can be undertaken to identify those who are really unable to cough up. The rest must start paying up.
Will this pinch? Yes.
Bottomline: There are many possible solutions - none of them easy - but nothing at all can be achieved unless people stop resisting the very idea of change!
Perhaps it's the young people growing up in this sub-standard housing who will be the change agents, persuading their parents to think beyond greed and beyond convenience.
At least, I hope so! If you do not willingly embrace change, it will tip-toe into your life and silently smother you. In the case of these old buildings - quite literally!
Thousands of residents are being evacuated by MHADA following the 4th collapse of a century-old building in Mumbai. The media has already rushed out and labelled it an epidemic.
To reach it one had to climb a rickety flight of stairs. A portion of the building had collapsed some years ago - only the front was still standing. In defiance of the laws of physics, in all probability!
Chawl Chalan
I learnt a few things about residents of condemned buildings - not all of them are really poor. One of the residents was a Catholic family - a lady and two young infants. The father - I was surprised to learn! - worked in the merchant navy.
Why would a family that earned enough to move elsewhere choose to stay in a 100 sq ft space? A space where you had to cook your food in a corner of the 'living' room, and queue up for a communal toilet every morning?
The question bothered me.
By this time I'd figured out that chawl furnishing did not vary much. Chiefly, it consisted of:
* One really Large Bed which serves 2 purposes: you sleep on it; store your worldly possessions under it!
* One TV - precariously perched on a metal/ wooden shelf
* One stove in the 'cooking corner'.
Stuck in the past
Another old couple residing in the same building - but in a much smaller size chawl -had 2 sons living in Dubai, and one quite well to do daughter in Thane. Despite pleas from the kids, this couple would not consider moving.
'Yehi hamari life hai', they believed. This was their comfort zone; their extended community.
Yes, the prime location of the building had attracted many builders who promised to convert the mess into a skyrise - along with flats for the original tenants. But doing this required the signatures of all existing tenants and owners and getting that was proving impossible.
Many tenants believed they would be out in the cold - and that was not a fear unfounded. There are horror stories of families stuck in 'transit' camps for years and years. There are horror stories of tenants never receiving their promised flats. And so on and so forth.
But at the heart of the matter lies the unwillingness of most chawl residents to contemplate change. To be happy with whatever they have, and not strive for more - whether individually, or collectively.
Take the merchant navy family. If it did move, yes there would be some initial separation anxiety from the old milieu. But in a few months time the luxury of space, of modern amenities like personal bathrooms, the privacy - all these would make it impossible for them to move back!
Time to pay up
I personally feel the squatter mentality has to go - rents frozen since World War II have to revised upwards. Perhaps not all at once, but a start must be made somewhere!
Many rent-controlled properties are sub-let at handsome prices; others used as commercial space. So it's hardly a case of protecting the poor. A survey can be undertaken to identify those who are really unable to cough up. The rest must start paying up.
Will this pinch? Yes.
Bottomline: There are many possible solutions - none of them easy - but nothing at all can be achieved unless people stop resisting the very idea of change!
Perhaps it's the young people growing up in this sub-standard housing who will be the change agents, persuading their parents to think beyond greed and beyond convenience.
At least, I hope so! If you do not willingly embrace change, it will tip-toe into your life and silently smother you. In the case of these old buildings - quite literally!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Washing maketh woman?
Detergent advertising has reached new highs - or new lows - depending how you look at it. The last ad for Surf Excel was trying to sell us the idea: "Daag acche hai ".
Yeah, right.
This particular ad seemed to have been giving the following brief: Housewives love cute kids. Find two such specimens and build some story. After all, it worked for Pepsodent ...
So you have a little girl who stains her dress by walking through a puddle. And a little boy 'hitting' the puddle to punish it for spoiling the girl's dress - in the process becoming quite a mess himself. Cho chweet no?
It's the 'daag accche hai' line at the end that's hard to stomach. It's no fun getting your favourite clothes stained, and never will be!
Are you washsome, tonight?
Of course, it is tough being a brand manager of a detergent. You have to produce 30 seconds of brand communication to air in the ad breaks during K serials. Year after year. Even though you have nothing new to communicate...
Everything that could be said about the benefits of cleanliness and daaglessness has been. Husband ka promotion, society mein izzat, bachche ka future - all the demons have already been invoked.
I have a little bit of inside info on the world of detergents. In those days the 'Bombay 1' unit handled all the Lever's business and was regarded simultaneously as the most prestigious. But it was a somewhat interesting time as Ariel had just been launched and Surf had a fight on its hands. Personally, I was an Ariel fan - it had made the washing of clothes so much easier than the traditional ragadte raho method. This experience came to me when i started to wash my own clothes.
I had read somewhere in the Ariel campaign itself about the attributes of a survey the company conducted. A survey conducted to make aware the growing consumer about the new ways of washing and the health concerns related to it. Of course, a new innovation by a detergent company to establish itself amongst the minds of the maturing Indian consumer. There were 17 'wash attributes'. Cleans... Whitens... Keeps clothes bright... Keeps clothes like new... Removes stains easily... Removes tough stains... Gentle on hands... Keeps husband faithful ...
Going by the fanatic devotion wives in detergent ads have traditionally had towards whiteness and brightness, I'm thinking there has to be a deeper, primeval reason. People love to hate advertising, and they call it purposeless without realising that they are buying into it!
Coming to "daag acchche hain", it was a refreshing departure from the age old cliche "white is good, clean is good" etc. If you need to make a difference and do good things, you need to get your hands dirty, right? So Surf Excel said just that: go ahead, get dirty. It told mothers that getting dirty doesn't mean your kid has been up to no good - he's just living his childhood. It's almost an anti-detergent thought! And who better than a powerful detergent like Surf Excel to give you that confidence to let your kid get dirty! Now isn't that confidence and peace of mind something mothers will want to buy into???? Its not targeting youth and its plainly appreciating the joy of being a child and that dirt is a part of childhood so get on with it!!!
The insight for the latest Surf campaign is completely different. It is part of a global 'Dirt is good' campaign. The whole thought there is that kids love to play and get themselves dirty. That's part of growing up and in this increasingly mechanised world, encouraging kids to play, exercise thier imagination, get dirty and therefore more immune and resistant, is perhaps the best way to help them grow.
Actually Persil had a similar ad campaign in England. The ad showed kids in the normal 'growing up activites' and generally getting clothes dirty. The catch phrase goes somethign like 'its not dirt'.
The idea, i believe is just to say that kids will be kids - they WILL get clothes dirty, but a housewive need not worry because Persil will clean them anyways. If you think about it the theme does strike a cord - it talks about how a major worry for housewives need not be a worry anymore.
The idea is not to say 'dirt is good' but that 'dirt is no longer a problem' - and maybe thats what Surf Excel is trying to communicate.Yeah, and the mother of all such ads was the Nirma one that used to come earlier in my schooldays. Kind-o got on your nerves, right?
Actually this kind of "dirty is good" stuff has been done before - Recall a washing machine ad which celebrated kids getting dirty - and another where assorted people willfully get dirty - and Sunlight in some countries worked on the premise - "an invitation to get dirty"
Well..the discussion about the 'detergents n soaps' are incomplete without mentioning the classic "iski sari meri sari se safed kaise..". I dont understand how could that commercial make an impact on women, when white sari wasn't a famous choice as it represented something else. "iski sari meri sari se bright kaise" ..yeh hota to baat samajh mein bhi aati kuch ..!!!
The worst part about detergents and toothpastes today is that they have special microscopic Oxocholoroflourocarbohydratoneuroprotono molecules which pass through even the toughest little knots in twined network of the cloth (for toothpastes it is those miniscule caverns between two teeth but that they manage to penetrate through) and pulverize the dust particles. I don't even understand why they are given sobriquets like Power boosters, White Washers. As far as the chemistry lessons in class X have taught me, detergents can have the simplest chemicals in the right proportion to remove the stains. I wonder which planet these manufacturers drop from. And talking about bristle design on brushes, every other brand has joined the bandwagon claiming a new effective design. I wonder how all the old ones fail as soon as the new ones enter the market.
Wonder if Marilyn Monroe's problem might have been not using the right detergent. Maybe gentlemen really prefer whites. With fresh lemony fragrance.
Yeah, right.
This particular ad seemed to have been giving the following brief: Housewives love cute kids. Find two such specimens and build some story. After all, it worked for Pepsodent ...
So you have a little girl who stains her dress by walking through a puddle. And a little boy 'hitting' the puddle to punish it for spoiling the girl's dress - in the process becoming quite a mess himself. Cho chweet no?
It's the 'daag accche hai' line at the end that's hard to stomach. It's no fun getting your favourite clothes stained, and never will be!
Are you washsome, tonight?
Of course, it is tough being a brand manager of a detergent. You have to produce 30 seconds of brand communication to air in the ad breaks during K serials. Year after year. Even though you have nothing new to communicate...
Everything that could be said about the benefits of cleanliness and daaglessness has been. Husband ka promotion, society mein izzat, bachche ka future - all the demons have already been invoked.
I have a little bit of inside info on the world of detergents. In those days the 'Bombay 1' unit handled all the Lever's business and was regarded simultaneously as the most prestigious. But it was a somewhat interesting time as Ariel had just been launched and Surf had a fight on its hands. Personally, I was an Ariel fan - it had made the washing of clothes so much easier than the traditional ragadte raho method. This experience came to me when i started to wash my own clothes.
I had read somewhere in the Ariel campaign itself about the attributes of a survey the company conducted. A survey conducted to make aware the growing consumer about the new ways of washing and the health concerns related to it. Of course, a new innovation by a detergent company to establish itself amongst the minds of the maturing Indian consumer. There were 17 'wash attributes'. Cleans... Whitens... Keeps clothes bright... Keeps clothes like new... Removes stains easily... Removes tough stains... Gentle on hands... Keeps husband faithful ...
Going by the fanatic devotion wives in detergent ads have traditionally had towards whiteness and brightness, I'm thinking there has to be a deeper, primeval reason. People love to hate advertising, and they call it purposeless without realising that they are buying into it!
Coming to "daag acchche hain", it was a refreshing departure from the age old cliche "white is good, clean is good" etc. If you need to make a difference and do good things, you need to get your hands dirty, right? So Surf Excel said just that: go ahead, get dirty. It told mothers that getting dirty doesn't mean your kid has been up to no good - he's just living his childhood. It's almost an anti-detergent thought! And who better than a powerful detergent like Surf Excel to give you that confidence to let your kid get dirty! Now isn't that confidence and peace of mind something mothers will want to buy into???? Its not targeting youth and its plainly appreciating the joy of being a child and that dirt is a part of childhood so get on with it!!!
The insight for the latest Surf campaign is completely different. It is part of a global 'Dirt is good' campaign. The whole thought there is that kids love to play and get themselves dirty. That's part of growing up and in this increasingly mechanised world, encouraging kids to play, exercise thier imagination, get dirty and therefore more immune and resistant, is perhaps the best way to help them grow.
Actually Persil had a similar ad campaign in England. The ad showed kids in the normal 'growing up activites' and generally getting clothes dirty. The catch phrase goes somethign like 'its not dirt'.
The idea, i believe is just to say that kids will be kids - they WILL get clothes dirty, but a housewive need not worry because Persil will clean them anyways. If you think about it the theme does strike a cord - it talks about how a major worry for housewives need not be a worry anymore.
The idea is not to say 'dirt is good' but that 'dirt is no longer a problem' - and maybe thats what Surf Excel is trying to communicate.Yeah, and the mother of all such ads was the Nirma one that used to come earlier in my schooldays. Kind-o got on your nerves, right?
Actually this kind of "dirty is good" stuff has been done before - Recall a washing machine ad which celebrated kids getting dirty - and another where assorted people willfully get dirty - and Sunlight in some countries worked on the premise - "an invitation to get dirty"
Well..the discussion about the 'detergents n soaps' are incomplete without mentioning the classic "iski sari meri sari se safed kaise..". I dont understand how could that commercial make an impact on women, when white sari wasn't a famous choice as it represented something else. "iski sari meri sari se bright kaise" ..yeh hota to baat samajh mein bhi aati kuch ..!!!
The worst part about detergents and toothpastes today is that they have special microscopic Oxocholoroflourocarbohydratoneuroprotono molecules which pass through even the toughest little knots in twined network of the cloth (for toothpastes it is those miniscule caverns between two teeth but that they manage to penetrate through) and pulverize the dust particles. I don't even understand why they are given sobriquets like Power boosters, White Washers. As far as the chemistry lessons in class X have taught me, detergents can have the simplest chemicals in the right proportion to remove the stains. I wonder which planet these manufacturers drop from. And talking about bristle design on brushes, every other brand has joined the bandwagon claiming a new effective design. I wonder how all the old ones fail as soon as the new ones enter the market.
Wonder if Marilyn Monroe's problem might have been not using the right detergent. Maybe gentlemen really prefer whites. With fresh lemony fragrance.
Splogger's Park
The latest in spam trends a while ago was 'spim' (spam on IM). Now it's 'splogs' (spam blogs). What's more these blogs have some kind of automated bot which goes and adds authentic sounding but totally irrelevant comments to genuine blogs.
Dunno if the word 'sploggets' exists but it sounds apt to describe spam blog comments!
The intriguing thing is unlike spam mail there is actually an attempt to 'personalise' and make the spam sound like a comment from a real person. Check these samples:
Hi good blog! I'm gonna bookmark for future reference. I have a pet supply chicago site/blog. It pretty much covers pet supply chicago related stuff. Come and check it out if you get time :-)
Well you obviously have not read my blog or you'd know I live 3000 miles from The Windy City!!!
Bloggs are such a wonderful way to plublish ones thoughts. Thanks for letting me visit and leave a comment. Link to Low carb diet store.
I let you visit? That's news! The spelling mistakes are a nice 'bozo' touch.
My boss doesn't want me to surf on company time, but I had to check out your blog and leave my comment. I think you've done a good job on it. I hope you don't mine if I use some of your ideas on my own blog about engine information marketing niche search.
Flattery gets creative - still doesn't work coz anyone who's blogging has the brains to know a real person didn't write that!
What'd'yu do 'bout it
Someone wrote about the attack of the 'splogs' a week ago and suggested users of blogger go to the comments section and add a 'word verification' option. That's a great idea - I shall do it right away.
The moral of the story is that whenever any medium becomes slightly popular you have unwanted marketing intruding on that space. In the case of the internet it's not only unwanted but random and untargeted since it's 'free'.
Spam - even with a .02 % response rate may have worked with email - since every old idiot uses email. But I don't think it will work on blogs because it's still a more elite and IQ driven universe.
Afterthought: Has Google Adsense worked for any of you? I signed up but never actually inserted the code since I couldn't figure out how it might make me money... I have never clicked on an Adsense banner myself.
This is not a matter of principle or anything. It's just that the ads served on Indian blogs - the ones I read more often - are pretty uninteresting. That could change with time, of course.
As of now, the only way I see the cash pouring in is via 'click cartels'. Like I noticed on a popular blog references to MASAT: Mutual Adsense Amukkum treaty...
Comments spam is a big problem, most blogs have put in filters etc. My blog is off-google so doesnt get spam (doesnt get traffic too, but thats another story).
Regarding Google ad-sense, I guess everybody signed up, but it's like the old time ad banners, nobody gets paid.
But Time of India obviously likes it, their main page has several google ads. But they probably wanted to keep the experience consistant with the print edition... search for news needle, in the ads haystack.
Splog comments are probably a prick in a blogger's post. I wonder why they are still trying. If it's the link that they're trying to add / clutter so that they rake better on Google, they've lost it already. Because Google initiated an industry wide "nofollow" attribute which is widely adopted by most popular blog software and services. Look up your source under comments. All href links in the comments are rel="nofollow" attributed.
Perhaps there are bots who do this kind of thing... Program how many "splicks" (spam clicks) you want and watch the $ pouring in. But hark, Big Brother Google has probably figured that out - and is watching!
Dunno if the word 'sploggets' exists but it sounds apt to describe spam blog comments!
The intriguing thing is unlike spam mail there is actually an attempt to 'personalise' and make the spam sound like a comment from a real person. Check these samples:
Hi good blog! I'm gonna bookmark for future reference. I have a pet supply chicago site/blog. It pretty much covers pet supply chicago related stuff. Come and check it out if you get time :-)
Well you obviously have not read my blog or you'd know I live 3000 miles from The Windy City!!!
Bloggs are such a wonderful way to plublish ones thoughts. Thanks for letting me visit and leave a comment. Link to Low carb diet store.
I let you visit? That's news! The spelling mistakes are a nice 'bozo' touch.
My boss doesn't want me to surf on company time, but I had to check out your blog and leave my comment. I think you've done a good job on it. I hope you don't mine if I use some of your ideas on my own blog about engine information marketing niche search.
Flattery gets creative - still doesn't work coz anyone who's blogging has the brains to know a real person didn't write that!
What'd'yu do 'bout it
Someone wrote about the attack of the 'splogs' a week ago and suggested users of blogger go to the comments section and add a 'word verification' option. That's a great idea - I shall do it right away.
The moral of the story is that whenever any medium becomes slightly popular you have unwanted marketing intruding on that space. In the case of the internet it's not only unwanted but random and untargeted since it's 'free'.
Spam - even with a .02 % response rate may have worked with email - since every old idiot uses email. But I don't think it will work on blogs because it's still a more elite and IQ driven universe.
Afterthought: Has Google Adsense worked for any of you? I signed up but never actually inserted the code since I couldn't figure out how it might make me money... I have never clicked on an Adsense banner myself.
This is not a matter of principle or anything. It's just that the ads served on Indian blogs - the ones I read more often - are pretty uninteresting. That could change with time, of course.
As of now, the only way I see the cash pouring in is via 'click cartels'. Like I noticed on a popular blog references to MASAT: Mutual Adsense Amukkum treaty...
Comments spam is a big problem, most blogs have put in filters etc. My blog is off-google so doesnt get spam (doesnt get traffic too, but thats another story).
Regarding Google ad-sense, I guess everybody signed up, but it's like the old time ad banners, nobody gets paid.
But Time of India obviously likes it, their main page has several google ads. But they probably wanted to keep the experience consistant with the print edition... search for news needle, in the ads haystack.
Splog comments are probably a prick in a blogger's post. I wonder why they are still trying. If it's the link that they're trying to add / clutter so that they rake better on Google, they've lost it already. Because Google initiated an industry wide "nofollow" attribute which is widely adopted by most popular blog software and services. Look up your source under comments. All href links in the comments are rel="nofollow" attributed.
Perhaps there are bots who do this kind of thing... Program how many "splicks" (spam clicks) you want and watch the $ pouring in. But hark, Big Brother Google has probably figured that out - and is watching!
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