April 11, 2012
Spent a sizable chunk of the morning researching webhosting sites in India. Through TV ads, as in the USA, Godaddy and Bigrock have made a popular presence here. Veteran US services like Hostgator also offer an Indian version of theirs. Then there are single plan "green" hosting options like hostpapa.
I don't get the patriarchal overtones in host names. Wouldn't a mom reference have a more caring undertone?! Gomommy site exists and is about parenting. There is no hostmamma. In the Indian context, I think host-mama with an avuncular twist will serve the same image "Go Daddy" aims for with its sexist TV ads in the US. Also in the market is unlimitedgb that offers perhaps the cheaptes available Rs.999 per year for unlimited hosting, but review sites slam them as a despicable spammer.
Since the site that is seeking a father online is not very heavy, I opted for Godaddy's 100GB option that comes at Rs. 99 per month for 3 years or Rs. 109 for 2 years. Just to doublecheck about any windows versus linux prefernce he might have about the hosting server, I call our designer dude.
"99 roopa masam valiya mandatharam aayi poyi, Saare" (Rs. 99 per month is great stupidity, Sir)
"Angane aanengil oru mandatharam allatha host paranju tharu" (Then tell me a hosting that won't be stupidity)
"Sir, asianetinte hosting site-il poku" (Go to Asianet's (i.e. local cable provider) hosting website)
"Poykondirikunnu*...." (on my way)*
"Njan saarine kanicha matte mudipura ammachi** kovilinte website avideyanu hosting" (I have hosted that other goddess temple website I showed you earlier there)
"Njan asianetinte plans nokunnu...ethu plana?" (I am looking at asianet's plans...which should I take)
"2 GB memory, 100 GB bandwidth"
"pakshe athinu Rs. 6900 roopa aanalo" (But that is Rs. 6900!)
"athe, pakshe oru varshathekkale saare, mattethu 99 roopa oru masam aanu saare...mandatharam" (Yes, but this is for a year Sir, the other one is Rs. 99 a month.....stupidity)
"mone, kumara, masam 99 roopa varsham ethraya?" (Son, young man, monthly Rs. 99 converts to how much in a year?)
"athu...." (that......)
"ethra varum?" (How much?)
"Sir...."
"ee 1200inte plan aanu asianet vangichu ninne pole ullavarku 7000 roopakku murichu, marichu vilkunathu...unlimited bandwidth polum illa" (It is such 1200 per annum plans that Asianet resells people like you for Rs. 7000...and there is no unlimited bandwidth even!)
"pakshe saar (new lease of life in the voice)...ee saaru paranja sitil da kando vere charges for DNS, SSL ennelam...kando kando" (But Sir..in the site you are saying they are showing separate charges for DNS, SSL etc...look, look)
"sahodara...athu added value provided free of cost ennu vendakka pole ezhuthiyirikunathu kando?" (brother...don't you see it clearly written there that those are value additions provided for free)
"oh...."
"nee designer aayittu irunna mathi....economicsilottu payattanda" (you stay designer don't get into economics!)
*BSNL slow in the morning** Goddess name changed to protect her privacy and divinity
After 10 minutes of the 'check out' process, it turned out that the sugar daddy host insists on credit card and accepts no debit card. May be Mudipura Ammachi was angry!
Yesterday evening after a walk through Kanakakunnu Palace. The myna couples who walk on the palace grounds are the best instructors for walkers. The entire body of the bird moves in an alive, agile pattern with every step in takes from head to tail. Even as they strut along the roadside, they remain forever curious about everything around them that is in their size scale.
On the way back, stopped by at Spencer's to buy toothpaste. International brands, Colgate, Pepsodent and Sensodyne occupy most of the shelf space. Colgate offers a tempting dental family on sale which might be subliminally attracting urban Indian families. This family comes with a lean, hard but quickly breaking bushy haired brush; a fat, soft, shiny large tube of paste and a shorter, chubby tube. And it is cheap too. Just like the real Indian family as the treatment meted out to accident victims on the road and the new divorce laws make it amply clear!
Decided to shun the international brands and go after the all-Keralite K. P. Namboothiri's ayurvedic brand of toothpaste. With this one, at least I know every single ingredient listed on the cover: clove, camphor, cinnamon, dried ginger and black pepper. Except for the flouride bit, I didn't know any of the chemicals listed on the cover of the other brands.
I remembered Michael Pollan's excellent advice on food shopping in the US, from his great book "In defense of food". Two simple rules: Shun foods that are a complex mix of more than five ingredients. Avoid as much as possible buying foods with ingredients that your grandmother won't recognize. Whenever I had stuck to these rules, during inspired intervals of few weeks, I had always lost weight.
I don't know if Namboothiris as a community are famous for their oral hygiene. The stereotypical and the famous personality images that come immediately to mind with the Namboothiri name all have betel stained, naturally, organically grown, euphemistically "British" teeth as opposed to the fenced-in at childhood, disciplined rows that flash in the all-American toothy grins.
Despite the lack of flouride, a combination of clove, ginger and pepper can do no harm and do give more of a 'zing' than any 'red hot microgranules' I have come across in the toothpaste business.
As I finish typing this, more news about an 8.6 earthquake off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia is trickling in with the tremors being felt in Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore. Fingers crossed!
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