I kid you not

Had stopped at my local kiranawallah (neighborhood grocer) on the way back from work to pick up a bar of good ole’ Bournville dark chocolate when I came across a toy product called-hold your breath- "Violently Tire" :)

Was a tire shaped top with a wind-up launcher a-la-Beyblade (for those who don’t have 7 year old neighbors who religiously watch cartoon network-A Beyblade is a glorified top with a launcher sold by creating a cartoon show solely to push the merchandise) .The tagline on the pack was "The strength comes suddenly and violently”. Walked out of the store trying to rein in the big grin on my face.

Needless to say, it was made in China.

With all the talk of China snapping on India’s heels in terms of churning out IT minions for big conglomerates, this quirk of language will probably not last long.Am pretty sure that there are vast factories bringing the cantonese up to speed on the finer aspects of the colonial language even as we speak and worn-out copies of Schaum guides to programming are strewn everywhere in Shenzhen where this thing was made. Will probably miss brilliant little products like these a few years down the line.

Not to say that Desi products are not (unintentionally) funny sometimes. Came across this sliced bread brand called "Bimbo" that’s available mostly in Santacruz and Andheri in Mumbai (no offense intended to residents-I used to stay in Andheri myself)-plain dumb or an extreme case of psychographic segmentation? :)

Have compiled a list of other such examples that came to mind

1) Came across this sticker on a click gel-pen I had "Warning-retract tip before replacing in pocket to avoid staining”. Funny but understandable going by the rate of frivolous litigation in the US.

2) “Wanton Chicken” on a Chinese restaurant menu in Pune. The Oxford Dictionary defines wanton as 1.Deliberate or unprovoked 2.sexually immoral.
I’m strongly hoping that it was the former.

:)

Have you come across a memorable product gaffe? Post a comment!

The Atheist

You find revelations in the strangest of places and at the weirdest of times.

Was at a traffic signal close to office in an auto absently staring at the pavement (or the lack of it) while talking on the phone. Tracked this piece of Styrofoam packing bobbing along in a gutter where the jagged road tiles ended at the edge of the street-watching it getting tangled in some muck only to surge ahead suddenly, caught up in a fresh rush of effluent from the adjoining Industrial compound.

Ended up with a strange thought when I put the phone down. Don’t exactly understand what led me down that particular branch of reasoning.

I’m not what they generally call a believer. Don’t put my money on an omnipresent omniscient being. Take pride in my incredulity-and take all faith with a pinch of salt.

But I do believe (quite logically) that this sewage will evaporate into vapour, abandoning its current toxic form to ultimately coalesce in a cloud somewhere and rain down as clean water that will sustain life before getting sullied again by all that it supports.

And yet I find the parallel idea of re-birth hard to digest. Had never thought of the issue in these terms.Always thought that it was some wild hope at the end of a rainbow, meant to distract us while we lived for the moment.

Strange. Surprising.

True?

You decide.

*pic courtesy tribune india