Kleenex shortage on the set: There’s a new desi independent film entitled “Anokha.” Based on the trailer, it appears to be about crying, and nothing but crying.

Letter arranging contest: The 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is June 1-2. Catch all the dorky goodness live when ESPN broadcasts the event on Thursday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST. The cable network’s print ad is to the right.

Obligatory M.I.A. update: Here’s a torrent of her passing through the cone zone (Quicktime, 11 MB, 4 mins.). Requires a BitTorrent downloader — PC, Mac.

Revenge of the rack: Shilpa Shetty versus Mallika Sherawat. Discuss.

A doctor turned off a woman’s life support ventilator in an Australian hospital because the director of surgery, dubbed "Dr Death," wanted her bed to operate on another patient, an inquiry has heard. The government-sanctioned inquiry in the Australian state of Queensland is examining the deaths of 87 patients treated by Indian-trained Dr Jayant Patel. [Reuters/Yahoo!]

The Los Angeles Times introduces chaat to the mainstream, and offers up some recipes. Give them a try, and then lament the fact that it’s still nowhere near as good as momma used to make:
• Bhel puri
• Pav bhaji
• Lamb frankie
• Tamarind and date chutney
• Green chutney

Doctors in Uttar Pradesh, India, have reattached a man’s penis after it was cut off by his wife. His wife said she was fed up with his womanising. Things came to a head when he brought a prostitute home. [Medical News Today]

Sure, the concept of a detachable penis sounds great in theory, but once you get one, you can’t wait to get it reattached:

His penis was reattached by a team of doctors, led by Dr. A Singh. According to doctor Singh, we will have to wait and see whether the man will ever be able to have sex again. [Medical News Today]

Mentioned briefly in an earlier post.

NPR’s “All Things Considered” has an audio report about the modern-day usage of the Chitravina (Real and Windows Media, 7 mins.):

The slide guitar is a beloved voice in blues, country and rock music. In India, slide musicians favor an ancient instrument called the Chitravina. N. Ravikiran, one of the country’s best-known players, hopes to expand the instrument’s popularity and push its musical frontiers. [NPR]

How two brothers from Delhi went from serving H-addled clubgoers to serving coke-addled agents:

The L.A. segment of their story began when the newly arrived Sean G, now a fit, head-shaven 34-year-old, was working as a parking attendant at Tower Video on Sunset. A regular customer often chatted with him. Sean G enjoyed the talks but was curious why this young man always drew a crowd. He soon realized he’d been talking to Johnny Depp, who got him a job in the cashier’s booth at the Viper Room, which Depp owned at the time. The idea of Sean G greeting habitues of the Viper Room has a certain Candide-like charm. He is hardly the image of perdition. He runs upwards of ten miles a day, has never been late for a job or called in sick. Even the way he came to work at Barney Greengrass is based on the desire for self-improvement that night workers occasionally flirt with. “I should do something with my days,” Sean G remembers thinking. “I should learn something.” A Viper Room barman brought him to the deli and showed him the ropes. “I never ate this food,” Sean G says. “I didn’t know what a bagel was, or nova, or cream cheese.” He got his brother a job there, too. [Los Angeles Magazine]

“The unconscious exposure of a body by a lady teacher during teaching could be an object of amusement for male students inside the classroom,” K.C. Satpathy, the principal of DAV Public School, was quoted in The Times of India newspaper as saying. “By wearing an apron, the quality of teaching could improve” … Women’s groups are outraged. “What does the principal expect? Should women teachers come to classes clad in burqas?” Katuri Mohapatra, a woman’s activist, told The Hindustan Times newspaper. [Reuters/Yahoo!]

A trailer for Jay Chandrasekhar’s next film, “The Dukes of Hazard,” is up at the movie’s official web site.

Direct links to the trailer: High, Medium, Low