A hoary pan-religious sentiment reverently praising the need for the right work ethic...
...Co-opted by the Mahatma in his "Movement Swadeshi"
...Now mostly spotted as crooked posters on dusty walls in the hallowed halls of Indian bureaucracy & babudom...
...The very definition of tragic irony...

Mahatma Gandhi Road AKA Emgees if you are a young happenin dude/dudette...

... The main thoroughfare in most Indian cities and towns, on occasion achieving iconic status as in Bangalore....

...except in Chennai, a town with a well-known aversion to certain languages north of the Vindhyas, where it is known as UG Road ( Utthamar Gandhi Road)...

MG Roads are as ubiquitous in India as Martin Luther King Boulevards are in the US, and for exactly the same reason - It allows politicians to score brownie points simply for recognizing these historical figures without actually having to follow any of their principles...

Given that most MG Roads have fast become centers of rampant commercialism with the occasional wine bar thrown in, it would probably be interesting to get the opinion of the severely ascetic, spin-my-own-fabric owner of the name regarding it's (ab)use.

Originally developed as "Ovomaltine" ("Ovo" for Eggs and Malt, it's main ingredients) around 1904, Ovaltine has had a long and hoary existence around the world.

"Oval", as it was called by hip in-the-know desi moms in the 70s and 80s, was for some strange reason, part of the drinks menu troika offered to guests along with Coffee and Tea..

It was replaced by the suspiciously identical sounding and tasting Maltova sometime in the 80s (a nice trademark/copyright circumvent, one presumes) ..

"Google" - apparently as Captain Vijaykanth (he of Bobby Ganesan fame ) would pronounce this ...See example

apologies to all non Tamil speaking Samosapedians, but a couple of the Captain's videos on YT will set the record straight

A declaration by a court that bans journalists from covering and reporting on ongoing proceedings...
...Occasionally a legitimate request to protect the defendants and their families...
...but as is usual in Apna Bharat Mahan, it is also created under pressure from other interested parties like politicians or the police seeking to minimize "collateral damages" that may come their way from the defendant's testimony...

The early 80s saw the release of a Tamil movie called "Sakala Kala Vallavan" (The expert in many arts) starring one Mr Kamalagaasan...

The movie, a standard masala potboiler with bad villains, worse acting and the requisite Silk dance, would have been relegated to the back shelves of history but for one small quirk of fate...

There is a standard disco number in the movie complete with flashing floor lights, a sequined kamal and a bunch of extras squirming & gyrating to Ilaiyaraja's pulsating beats that begins in this fashion - "Hi Yuwrybady..."

...and for some strange inexplicable reason this has become part of the great Tamil zeitgeist much like the ball dropping in Times Square..

....For the past 3 decades no self-respecting Tamil new year party either at home, or on TV or amongst the vast diaspora is complete without this number...

..so fellow brethren and sisteren ..."Hi Yuwrybady, vishoo a happy new year"...

A colorful Tamil onomatopoeia that means exactly what it sounds like - something (or someone) getting ripped or about to be..

..The literal examples are interesting, the metaphorical ones even more so...see below

Every eng bai and eng girl's second fondest dream, probably next only to finding Katrina Kaif (or Salman Khan depending on which team you bat for) standing next to your bed...

Unfortunately like most dreams, this is mostly urban myth, the occasional newsworthy leak of a civil service exam paper not withstanding...

Such trivial details does not however stop us..How else to explain that the back bench slacker who spent most of 12th grade reading Maxim under the table, suddenly finds himself ranker #127 on the IIT JEE?...

Surely God cannot be that cruel? It has to be Question paper out...

Samosapedia Neologism to describe the almost Houdini like ability of the educated urban Tamilian to flit in and out of any setting with practiced ease ...you know..sort of like a Chameleon...

The description would fit any urban educated Indian, I suppose, but indulge my small whim in creating a silly/punny neologism...

Intrepid POMO dude by day, he cannot get anymore traditional with modern outlook by night...

...Picks up the perfect California twang or Midlands Brogue or Noo Yawk mouth effortlessly, but can switch back to Mumbaiyya or Madras Baashai at the drop of a syllable...

...Impresses all his Amru friends with his socio-political commentary on the differences between the Reagan-era Happy Days and the Obama-era Big Bang Theory, but is happiest when catching up with Satyameva Jayate on YouTube...

...Spends many a waking hour working his Office's NCAA (or NBA or NFL) pool, but always has a CricInfo window open in his browser..

...and it does not matter when he debates with the Sommelier on the best California Pinot to pair with his steak, he cannot wait to get back home to his Dal Chaval or Thaiyir Saadham...

..May his "colorful" lifestyle continue to flourish...

Definitely not Chinese and barely Bombay (the cuisine originated in Calcutta), the Desi version of one of the oldest cooking traditions in the world, very carefully avoids any ingredients, recipes or methods that may accidentally cause it to become authentically Chinese...
...Keeping with the dictum that "Indians love any world cuisine as long as it tastes like Indian cuisine", Bombay Chinese usually is made with stuff like cumin, coriander and turmeric, spices the Chinese probably only heard about through their geography text books...
...Some call it Indo-chinese and others call it Indian Chinese, but 4 out of 5 desis agree on one thing - Indian Chinese is way more delicious than Chinese Chinese