It has been a while since my last visit to the excellent India Uncut blog - too long.

First laugh - Amit's latest post links to a chef dispensing advice concerning prawns. As an Aussie, I was rather amused to discover some poor Seppo writing in, wondering what to do with that whole 'vein thing' running down the back of a prawn. Kiss it goodbye or let it lie? Basically, if you bought your prawns to impress - as a stand-out ingredient in some culinary masterpiece you've had up your sleeve for months - then you should clean them. Even if the prawns are merely a somewhat important ingredient amongst a few others, you should clean them. If you are using those bland tiddlers from Thailand - to add an interesting texture to your gruel or something along those lines - then don't bother cleaning them.

I swear, I was born with that innate knowledge. Bewdy, mate. Throw another... oh, never mind.

Now, if you bought your prawns to impress, and in doing so you selected those aforementioned bland Thai tiddlers - then you should clean them, because that's your punishment for being a tightarse. Apologies, the one minute I spent looking through idiotic online Strine dictionaries did not yield the definition of "tightarse". Note to the confused; if you are a tightarse, you are cheap. And you know who you are.

Second laugh - some politically incorrect Indian astrologer has decided that "Mumbai" is somewhat unlucky, and "Bombay" is rather more auspicious. Whatever. All the terribly clever weathermen on Australia's two publicly-funded television broadcasters take great pride in saying "Moom-Bye", like it is a signifier of one's magnificent cultural adjustment. A decisive strike in your valiant quest to bash down those imperialist Anglosized verbal imposts, comrade! When I was in Bombay, I did not meet a single Indian who termed their fair city 'Mumbai' - although a lot of Western tourists did. Having said that, perhaps the Indians did too, because I believe the correct pronounciation is "Mum (like your non-American, Pommy/Aussie mother) - Bay", and - if you say it quickly (which is invariably the case, because Indians are the greatest communicators in the world) - that sounds rather similar to "Bombay". Then again, I do not know, because I do not speak Hindi, and am basically a stupid Westerner.