Read this news story yesterday
A cellphone ringtone that chants "condom, condom!" has been launched in India to promote safe sex and tackle the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The "condom a cappella" has been designed to break down Indians' reluctance to discuss condom use and to make wearing a condom more acceptable.
Organisers of the campaign, funded by the foundation set up by Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, hope the ringtone will become a craze among young Indians.
About 2.5 million people live with HIV in India, said the BBC World Service Trust, the charity behind the ringtone, which was released this month. It can be downloaded at condomcondom.org (via Sonia Faleiro)
After reading the above news story, I too have come up with my own ringtone song based on the iconic soundtrack "ILU ILU" from the movie Saudagar. [ILU used to stand for "I Love You" during my younger days. Many young boys in my school used to write ILU ILU on the desks of the girls they adored, so as to express their harmonal desires. Nowadays, going by latest media reports, it seems that younger boys must be writing IFU on the desks.. but I'm not so sure]. Anyways, here's how my version of song goes:
Jab baag mein
Koi fool khila..
to bhanvre ne kahaa..
CONDOM CONDOM
CONDOM CONDOM..
Jab koooooi achcha lagta hai
bada pyaara pyaara lagta hai
to dil karta hai
CONDOM CONDOM
CONDOM CONDOM..
English version:
Whenever in a garden
a flower blooms,
the bee says
CONDOM CONDOM
CONDOM CONDOM
When somebody feels endeared to you
feels very sweet and loveable to you
the heart says..
CONDOM CONDOM
CONDOM CONDOM
Huh.. all my friends have been cursing me since I've told them of my plans of having above version of song as my ringtone. Sour grapes, it seems.**
In another random net-surfing, I found this utterly hilarious version of Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech, where it has been made damn funny and dreadful by converting it into a powerpoint:
** Here "Sour grapes" means that none of them finds themself as creative as I am. Hence they're feeling jealous. Please don't make other latexical assumptions.
hahaha... IFU :D....chi chi kaisi kaisi baatein kar rahe ho :P
in logon ko kaun samjhaye ki bhaiya...max population jo HIV ka shikaar hoti hai ...vo cell phone rakhti hi nahin hai....aur jab itna chillane paar log nahin use karte hain...to ring tone....hey prabhu!
Posted by: Prakhar Gupta | 05 September 2008 at 04:58 AM
Exactly. All this 'condom condom' makes for good PR buzz only. Rather than trying to tackle the taboo about sex -- explaining how sex makes for a healthy living and less mentally constricted society, and encouraging discussion between youths and parents on this subject, we are being taught just to say the *SEX* or *CONDOM* word aloud.
Gandhi tried a similar strategy years ago by trying to rename untouchables as "Harijans" and failed terribly.. as if centuries old taboos and notions would vanish just by saying something by a different name. The current campaign is just like classic Indian education system - Without educating youths why should they not be ashamed of saying the word "condom", they're just being encouraged to use it as their ringtones.
And tell me one thing.. which sane Indian youth belonging to middle class would dare keep this as his/her ringtone? One tight slap from parents.. that is what would happen, and nothing else.
Posted by: Himanshu Gupta | 05 September 2008 at 03:21 PM