The Indian Express suggests that the Karnataka Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh has initiated steps to rename “Bangalore” to “Bengaluru.”

Bombay became Mumbai, Calcutta became Kokatta, Madras became Chennai. India to be called Hindustan?

I think the Chief Minister has better things to do for his state and this sort of idiocy needs to stop. Does it force upon people a benign form of patriotism or nationalism to refer to their city by an ancient and somewhat archaic name? I think it just confuses people and makes it even harder for people to do business in India (ooops, Bharath, no Hindustan, no hamara desh – ugh, whatever).

By the way, I'll continue to always tell people that I grew up Madras, politics [and politicians] be damned.

Mamta Popat, a photographer at The Arizona Daily Star, wrote in to say that the newspaper published a series of portraits she created.

“After each sports season we pick athletes who really excelled and got state titles. They're called “All-Stars” – anyway I had to photograph seven athletes in 6 days. I was super stressed thru the whole ordeal but alas I got it done.”

They are stupendous and well worth a look-see here. I asked her which of the portraits was her favorite and she emailed me back with the one you see below. I love the sepia-toning in post-production.

Must see: The Photography Channel, Magnum In Motion and New York Photo Blog

Malaysia-based photographer, Palani Mohan [thanks to Melisa Lyttle for this terrific link]

Asian Small Works

Snapshooters, freelancers, amateurs and perhaps even professional photogs can make money via Shutterstock

Resize images using online tools: Resize2Mail, Online Image Resize, Net Imaging

The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web and The Anatomy of Web Fonts

Basant Bash and the potential ban

Best of The Blogs (or The Bobs) winners announced

AK47.tv has launched its 9th issue

Get the Rasterbator [don't ask] to create huge rasterized images from any image.

Born Magazine, where literary arts marries interactive media

Starting today, the South Asian International Film Festival will be in full swing in New York city.

Friend and film maker Anoli Patel wrote in to surprise me with some great news. The Hangman, a feature-length movie she and her production company Akshar Media have been laboring over was accepted into the festival and will have its US premiere on December 10, at 2 p.m. General admission is $13.

I urge you all to support independent film makers and producers. If you are in NYC this Saturday let's try and meet up to check this film out.