Hinduism or Talibanism: In Support of Wendy Doniger’s book “The Hindus: An Alternative History”

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | No Comments

I am shocked to see that thousands of Hindus and Indians are gathering online in a Taliban like way to force the withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s excellent book “The Hindus: An Alternative History” published by Penguin.

The petition for the withdrawal of the book can be read at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/dharma10/petition.html – where it describes the book as insulting and hurtful to Hindus and Indians everywhere. That is ridiculous.

In reaction to this I have launched a counter petition at http://petol.org/THAAH123 with a point by point response to their erroneous analysis and would be grateful if you could let everyone you know about this.

This petition is a counter response to the shameful demand for the withdrawal or banning of this excellent book. I support much of what the book purports and even more importantly I support Wendy Doniger’s right to write, publish and propagate her opinion without the misplaced intervention of xenophobes and Indic or Hindu arrogance. I urge Penguin not to succumb to the pressure of this group and instead encourage them to take the high road as well as the path taken by most Hindus throughout history and allow for the free exchange of ideas, discussion and dialogue. We are an inclusive faith and an ever-absorbing people and do not condone xenophobia or prejudice of this kind.

Wendy is being awarded at the National Book Critics Center Awards in New York at 6pm on Wednesday 10th March 2010 – there are planned protests in support of her book as well as one planned by USHA against the book. Please come out and support Wendy if you are in NYC.

Thank you for joining this cause. The petition is at http://petol.org/THAAH123.

Thank you all lovers of free speech and Hindu tolerance.

Raja Choudhury
New Delhi
raja@c3cube.com
+91 9871586502

The Beetle Launches in India

Posted on | December 7, 2009 | No Comments

Before there was a Nano, there was the Beetle, and now it is here. The original “people’s car” was the Volkswagen Beetle that became synonymous with freedom, the sixties and the “drop out” hippy culture. Now it is India – overpriced and nowhere near the original vision of a cheap affordable car – but still an Icon of the automobile’s 110 year history.

The Architecture of a realistic 3DWeb in a Semantic World.

Posted on | December 5, 2009 | 2 Comments

Being an architect, 3D artist, multimedia producer and web designer and having started in the game back in the 80’s with kiosks and Sculpt 3d while reading Neuromancer and Count Zero, I always wanted to develop a 3D environment where objects contained data, links to data and embedded semantics about themselves that could then be shared with other objects in that environment without the need for human interaction. Whether for social networking in 3D or for exploring the hidden depths of the Pyramids at Giza or Chartres Cathedral or being able to take a tour of your City virtually linked by databases. With the evolution of Semantic Web and the advent of 3D tools for real time game type experience creation, I feel it must be now possible to do this. I am putting together a team of Architects and 3D designers in India and I am for looking Semantic Web, Logic, 3DWeb, Gaming and possibly VR experts to build out some radical experiments and then develop applications for exploitation later. Let me know if any of you out there are working in this arena and let us discuss collaborating in some exciting ways or just sharing knowledge and keeping in touch. Also if there are any exciting experiments going on that you can point me towards I would be most grateful. I look forward to your comments.

Come on Hindustan Times! George Bush as Keynote….why?

Posted on | November 5, 2009 | No Comments

The Hindustan Times wins the Award from me for Creative Blunder of the Year!!!

After a great rebranding exercise and the visionary writings of Sanghvi, Thappar, Hazra and others, who does the Hindustan Times choose as key note for their Leadership Forum: George Bush! Possibly the worst President of the United States in its turbulent 233 year history.

Talk about leadership lessons on things not to do, George “Dubya” Bush takes the cake. Don’t sign Kyoto. Don’t destroy Al Qaida. Attack Iraq. Give profits to your friends at the Oil Companies and Haliburton. Destroy American education. Lead the world into the second worst recession ever by deregulating the financial markets. Have the lowest rating of any President ever.

But in India we love him. Why, because he was “our friend” and gave us “almost” super power status by signing the 123 Nuclear Accord. And like all creative (not) Indians we bring him to our country, give him high honours and then ask him like we ask everyone we meet in our own unimitable, whining, groveling, self-effacing, insecure way “ Please sir, why is it that the World does not give us rightful recognition as a super power and a seat on the Security Council…”

And what does the great, erudite leader of the free world George Bush say in reply….”Get over it!”

Come on Sanghvi et al., let’s choose some better leaders next time round and guide India in the right direction….

C3CUBE plans release of new International Film on the Story of Yoga in 2010

Posted on | July 30, 2009 | 10 Comments

C3CUBE Multimedia (http://www.c3cube.com) today announced that it will be producing a new film and educational multimedia project called “Cracking the Inner Code: The Story of Yoga.” This exciting project is being driven by veteran award-winning multimedia producer Raja Choudhury and Dr. Karan Singh, the eminent Indian cultural ambassador, Hindu Scholar, President of ICCR and a Member of the Rajya Sabha.

For the first time ever on TV, DVD and Web, this production will tell the compelling story of the history, art, science, spirituality and evolution of Yoga from its start in India through its passionate following today around the world. This unique multimedia package comprises of a 90-minute documentary Film for International release, a DVD set, an educational Website, a Book and an original Music Score. The film will premiere in March 2010 through Theatrical release and TV in the US, UK and India followed by the launch of the educational multimedia elements for families, teachers, schools and Yoga enthusiasts.

The film will be shot and edited in India and the US in HD with original
Interviews, never-before-seen illustrations, animations and archival footage, demonstrations of asanas and practices by beautiful Indian actors, Yogis and dancers, rich captivating visuals and cutting edge CGI (computer graphics) to tell a unique and fascinating story.

Raja Choudhury, Managing Director of C3CUBE Multimedia, who has been creating successful multimedia productions in the US, UK and Indian markets since 1993 said “This is a story that has never been told in digital multimedia and we felt it should be presented to the world by Indians themselves using world-class production values and cutting edge techniques and know-how.”

The producers are now seeking additional production finance as well as marketing partners and distributors to ensure the film’s widest possible release around the world. For further information or to get involved in this exciting venture contact Raja Choudhury at raja@c3cube.com or call +91.9871586502.

A Colonial Hangover: some thoughts on “Section 377” by Dr. Karan Singh

Posted on | July 16, 2009 | 3 Comments

Dr. Karan Singh
8 July 2009

“The Indian Penal Code as it criminalizes consensual sexual acts of adults in private is violative of Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.”  These words in the Delhi High Court judgment of 1st July, 2009 have put the whole position clearly and unambiguously.  Indeed, it is surprising that an outmoded colonial law introduced during Victorian times should have remained on our Statute Book for so many years since independence.   The motivation for the law by our former colonial masters was clearly to prevent any physical contact between the young British civil and military officers who came out to administer India and the ‘natives’, and it was repealed in the United Kingdom decades ago.  We   are perhaps the last democratic country in the world to have decriminalized gay sex, and now join 126 countries around the world that have already done so. This will come as a long awaited relief to a particularly vulnerable section of society which, even if it is pegged at 2% of our population against the generally accepted figure of 10%, would involve over 20 million people.

The judgment has sparked off a lively debate on television which, along with the printed media, has been largely supportive.  Some points need to be clarified.  The judgment in no way propagates gay sex; all it does is to ensure the fundamental right of equality, non-discrimination and personal liberty guaranteed to every Indian citizen under our Constitution.  It is also important to note that it does not decriminalize non-consensual sex or pedophilia, which will remain cognizable offence subject to severe punishment.

The argument that some religious leaders are against the judgment cannot become a deciding factor.  I recall that when in the early 50s, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar piloted the Hindu Court Bill through Parliament, there were a large number of Hindu leaders including some Shankaracharyas who were strongly opposed to it, as was the then President.  Nonetheless, they pushed it through, thereby ensuring that 800 million Hindus in India today live in a much more equitable and fair society than heretofore.  Similarly, all Christian denominations are not against gay sex.  The Roman Catholic Church certainly is, and it is also against contraception, but that does not mean that we should stop our family welfare and condom distribution programmes. As far as the Muslim community is concerned, the conservative leaders will certainly take a rigid attitude, but younger people are likely to be less dogmatic, and if one looks at the great Sufi tradition within Islam, we find that they celebrated love, both human and divine, in all its multifaceted glory.

The argument that this is against nature is also not viable.  To begin with, for the gay or LGBT community, their particular lifestyle is apparently as natural as heterosexual relationships are to the rest of society.  Also this argument of nature can be pushed to extremes.  It is not ‘natural’ to wear clothes; or to eat cooked food. Nature is much more varied and inclusive than many realize, and alternative sexuality has been found in almost all cultures, ancient and modern, around the world.

It is often forgotten that some of the greatest artists and musicians, rulers and conquerors, philosophers and poets in history have been gay or bisexual.  Same-sex love formed the basis of the ancient Greek civilization that produced such great thinkers as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who laid the philosophical foundations of Western civilization.  In India also, the Kama Sutra clearly mentions same-sex love in a very matter of fact manner, and the Khajuraho sculptures depict it graphically. In our magnificent iconography, the ultimate integration of the masculine and feminine archetypes is found in the great concept of Shiva Ardhanareshwara, while in the broader philosophical context, the Vedanta believes that the divine resides in all human beings, in which case discrimination on any basis including sexual preference is unacceptable.

To conclude, therefore, one can say that the historic judgment of the Delhi High Court marks a positive step in widening the scope of our inclusive democratic structure, and rescuing millions of citizens from the shadow of an archaic and outmoded colonial legacy.

Dr. Karan Singh
8 July 2009

C3CUBE initiates touch-screen kiosk entertainment revolution in India

Posted on | June 3, 2009 | 2 Comments

During this IPL season, if you had walked into any of the major outlets of McDonald’s or Nirulas, the DT Mall Food Courts or any of 27 prime retail locations across the Delhi NCR region, you would have seen a crowd of young people engrossed in a futuristic, interactive touch-screen kiosk. This was the Dilli Dil Se Network, part of the Coca-Cola Dilli Dil Se marketing program celebrating the Delhi Daredevils and India’s first ever network of multimedia, broadband-enabled entertainment kiosks.

The Dilli Dil Se kiosk network was conceived and developed by acclaimed multimedia producer Raja Choudhury and his digital agency, C3CUBE Multimedia for Coca-Cola India as part of its integrated marketing program to leverage its sponsorship of the Delhi Daredevils during the DLF IPL 2009. This program also included a website, www.DilliDilSe.com, designed by C3CUBE.

Traditionally, touch-screen kiosks are visible in banks, at airports, stations, museums aimed at facilitating customer transactions, information or ticketing. This is the first time a kiosk network has been created solely for the purpose of promoting a sporting event and providing entertainment in a safe, fun-filled environment. And the formula worked! During the DLF IPL 2009, over 20,000 enthusiastic users between the ages of 13 and 30 logged on to the Dilli Dil Se kiosk network to cheer and celebrate the Delhi Daredevils steady climb to the top of the league table, and into the semi-finals.

The cutting-edge kiosk network integrated a large 19 inch letterbox touch-screen interface and a 32 inch LCD TV and provided dynamic content such as a promotion, games, a private social network, video mail, SMS tweets, a juke box, Bluetooth 2.0 downloads, videos, ads, team player game cards, 3D virtual tours and much more.

“This is a first-of-its-kind entertainment kiosk network” says Raja Choudhury, who has been building award-winning kiosks, websites, videos and TV programs in the US, UK and Indian markets since 1993. “We believe such a network that integrates Web 2.0, flash games, a social network, Bluetooth, video mail, SMS and music over a 2 Mbps broadband connection, has not been deployed so far. Coca-Cola India believed in our vision and we were able to make this possible during the IPL.”

C3CUBE and Coca-Cola India were able to attract some key partners to this pioneering experiment during the DLF IPL event including McDonald’s, Nirulas, DLF DT Malls, Kwality Group, Pind Baluchis, Zenga Mobile Apps, Waves, INOX cinemas, Vikings Game Zone and Airtel Broadband.

Mansoor Siddiqi, Director – Integrated Marketing Communications at Coca-Cola India said that “The Dilli Dil Se kiosk network was a fresh initiative in the marketing of a brand asset. It enabled local Delhi Daredevils fans to cheer their team on, in an involving and fun manner, and achieved engagement metrics beyond our expectations.”

C3CUBE Multimedia is a two-year old agency with offices in New Delhi and New York that has already notched up major interactive successes including 2 Webby Honoree Awards in 2008 for OurWeddingDay.com and CBCWorldwide.com as well as numerous awards for JadeNYC.com and the documentary film “Spirituality in the Modern World.” The company now plans to launch a series of public multimedia projects in the Indian market, including a new tourism, information and entertainment kiosk network for Delhi called the Delhi I-Zone in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

For further information contact Kritika Singh at Kritika@c3cube.com or call +91 989984749.

DilliDilSe.com brings a fresh take on the success of the Delhi Daredevils.

Posted on | May 22, 2009 | No Comments

New Delhi, 22 May 2009 – As the Delhi Daredevils make their way into the semi-finals, one website is proving a big hit with fans as it celebrates the victories in a novel and unique way. Developed by New Delhi and New York creative hotshop, C3CUBE Multimedia for Coca-Cola India, www.DilliDilSe.com takes Daredevils fans into an alternate universe with a fun game called “Get Gauti to the Match”, a multimedia team section with shareable and collectible virtual fan cards, a complete social club with friends, forums, crazy videos, a slogan contest, a 3D guide to the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium, Delhi events from Buzzintown, live scores, music, prizes and much more.

DilliDilSe.com is Coca-Cola India’s first entry in the Web 2.0 world of rich online media and social networking as part of its sponsorship and promotion of the Delhi Daredevils team during DLF IPL2 in South Africa. It partnered with Webby award-winning creative agency, C3CUBE Multimedia to design and deploy both the website and a network of 27 multimedia touch-screen kiosks at prime customer outlets such as McDonald’s, Nirula’s, DT Malls and other locations across Delhi NCR.

DilliDilSe.com takes a very different route from the regular fan community and team sites during IPL 2. The site integrates bright and cheerful design elements, cutting edge Ajax technologies, rich media flash content in the forms of games, tours and fan cards and the best of Web 2.0 technologies including a social club with friends, videos, photos, slogans, forums and short messages. Fans can interact with Gauti, Veeru, Amit, as well as each other in new and unusual ways within a safe, fun-filled environment.

In describing the vision for the site Mansoor Siddiqi, Director of Integrated Marketing at Coca-Cola India said that “we felt the Delhi Daredevils fans needed something in addition to the regular channels of communication, to share their passion for the team during the DLF-IPL season in a dynamic and interactive environment…and DilliDilSe.com is our way to help them cheer the team on.”

Raja Choudhury, Managing Director of C3CUBE Multimedia said “the partnership with Coca-Cola pushes the boundaries of what is possible in sports promotion in terms of online presence, and we are excited to see the success of DilliDilSe.com as the Delhi Daredevils shoot to the top of the league table.”

For further information contact Kritika Singh at Kritika@c3cube.com or call +91 9899847497

And the Oscar goes to….NOT INDIA

Posted on | March 8, 2009 | No Comments

“Slumdog” was truly the star of the Oscars, sweeping 8 awards, Slum Dog Millionaire rewrote history for the Indian film industry – Not! Indian film industry! Slumdog, Danny Boyle, Oscars. What does it all fix, how does it all fit, What Indian film industry?

It is time we Indians woke up and realized how the world around us is cashing on Incredible India. While we sit, wait and watch, the world applauding the story of ghettos to glory.

After the super success of Slum Dog Millionaire it makes me wonder why we Indians never took note of the thousand gritty looking Jamal’s running around our streets, peering into our vehicles. Never thought that any such child had an untold story behind them, and a lesson to be learnt from their story. It took a Danny Boyle to tell a story of a simple slum boy roughing it out in the big bad world.

Not only Slum dog. Take for example the original novel which captured the true soul and spirit of Mumbai in its writings. A novel of love lost, battle, rage, humanity, and compromise, all of Mumbai’s characteristics wrapped into the one and only Shantaram. Once again from a population of 1 billion Indians, it was a David Mcgregory who got to tell the story of one of India’s most populous, hardworking, soulful and dynamic cities through teh script of Slum Dog.

The list does not end there. I have more.  The most accurate and gripping biographies of our legendary and colonial rulers being retold by none other than William Dalrymple and Sarah Mcdonald who tells the story of India’s over powering religious beliefs in her book, Holy Cow.

This list extends to lifestyle as well. Today the US has 15 million people practising yoga daily. While we Indians have discarded it as an ancient science left only to the mercy of the Ramdev followers.

We boast endlessly about our rich culture, heritage and ever encompassing traditions. Yet we miss out on the simplest stories, the transparent truth and the known facts.

Are we immune to sights of children begging, is it not important to tell the truth to the world even though it may be horrible and heart wrenching.  Has the time not come when we look beyond aping the west in terms of lifestyle and trends and inculcate their concept of respect for new ideas, creativity and original thoughts?

Is it not time we live up to the name of our blog and truly be “The Creative Indian”.

Creative Financing – the secret to getting the Gov to back your business plan

Posted on | September 26, 2008 | No Comments

Every SME is looking for unsecured funding to help seed, restructure or grow their business – especially in a tight economy like today. One of the true unsung heroes of the American dream story for entrepreneurs before this current recession was the role that the Small Business Administration (SBA) played in helping small businesses get funding to grow their businesses. Microsoft, HP and Nike were all early beneficiaries of SBA loans and look where they wound up. This US Federal Government Agency underwrites a loan though a bank so that 85% of the risk is covered. This allows businesses with little or no collateral and assets to secure sizable unsecured loans from a participating bank that under normal circumstances would immediately say no. The good news is that India has its own SBA – its called the CGTMSE – and for some bizarre reason it is one of the best kept secrets around.

Welcome to the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises. Small Indian businesses with feasible business plans but little collateral can get up to Rs 50 Lacs in funding without any security and with the government underwriting 75% of the risk. You will hardly find a bank promoting this actively as the scheme requires time and effort and the bank makes less money on the transaction. But entrepreneurs should know about it as the cost is cheaper and the risk is less. For a one-time fee of 2%, businesses can secure up to Rs 50 lacs with no collateral and no large deposits.

So what do you do now – well first find a partner bank – see the list and all related information at the CGTMSE Web Site or call 022-2564 1803/4/5 – and then go see them, discuss the scheme and push them to process the application. You never know….

keep looking »

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Recent Comments

• Vinanti Sarkar on C3CUBE plans release of new International Film on the Story of Yoga in 2010
• Kember on C3CUBE plans release of new International Film on the Story of Yoga in 2010
• umesh prasad singh on A Colonial Hangover: some thoughts on “Section 377” by Dr. Karan Singh
• umesh prasad singh on A Colonial Hangover: some thoughts on “Section 377” by Dr. Karan Singh
• | Acne Therapy Asia on C3CUBE plans release of new International Film on the Story of Yoga in 2010