Mark your calendar and pack your dhol. The Boston Bhangra Competition, which brings bhangra teams from across the US and Canada, will be on Saturday, November 13, 2004 at 6.30 at the John Hancock Hall, 180 Berkeley St., Boston. For more information visit the Boston Bhangra web site.

First a story about how adolescents are experiencing sex earlier than before, now this.

Some of you may be wondering why I have posted this under the category of “culture.” Well, if you don't think AIDS is or will be affecting the fabric of a nation, think again. There are several approaches to this issue and I hope some of you out there will enunciate them to us so we will be better educated about this major, devastating issue.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's India Country Report on Population and Development has found that Indian adolescents are having sex at a younger age than before.

“The report further says that misconceptions aside, a large number of teenagers don't even know the correct way of using a condom.”

Time for parents to wake up and smell the chai and start talking to their kids about the birds, bees or whatever else that makes them comfortable. Time to flush those old taboos, I say.

Via Hindustan Times

“India sends its whisky to Scotland,” reads the headline. It's the brainchild of 25-year old Rakshit Jagdale who hit upon the idea as a student in Britain. The mind is never a terrible thing to waste.

This reminds me of the time my father sent me a clipping about some wineries in Pondicherry that were shipping their version of cabernet to France. Gasp!

Via Mediabistro.com

Singapore is ending its 22-year ban on Cosmopolitan magazine. Each issue, however, must be shrink-wrapped and the cover must feature the text: “Unsuitable for the young.”