It really IS a Wallyworld

After months (years?) of speculation, it's official -- Wal-Mart is setting up a B2B joint venture with Bharati Enterprises to enter to the Indian market.

I'm not sure what the impact will be, but one of the most interesting things to watch may be how W-M's reputed supply chain organization will link small farmers and manufacturers to retailers. (It's estimated that 30%-40% of India's food rots in the fields or spoils in transit due to insufficient infrastructure.) It's not an incredibly sexy topic, but it certainly could have an incredible impact.

An endnote: I have to say, I have to delight in the thought that in the near future, whether in sleepy old Sonora or dusty Delhi, people like my grandmother will be able to unite in pursuit of an ever-better buy (Grandma: "Why would I spend $70 on a pair of jeans when I can get them for $12.99 at Wally World? Are you crazy?")

Star-whats?

Sometimes I want a grande caramel macchiato with skim milk so bad I'd cut my left arm off for its treacly goodness, but unfortunately for me, Starbucks won't be setting up in the subconty until well after I return to the homeland. Cafe Coffee Day and Barista are passable imitations, but it'll always be those calorie-packed Frappucinos and eerily ubiquitous half-naked mermaids that warm MY cockles.

Still, I may be in luck -- if Shahnaz Hussain's latest wacky venture looks to play on something more than the Starbucks brand name. Yes, the hoary beauty buff has announced she's starting a chain of 25 cafes called "Starstrucks," and the folks in Seattle are none too happy about her decision. Hussain's rebuff is that everybody pulls this crap (a fair statement in a land that also boasts a "Starbeans"), and she holds that her chain will feature movie posters and other utterly fabulous/glamorous items.

Politics, lawsuits, and other shenanigans aside, if Starstrucks can manage to whip up, oh, I don't know, a gold-encrusted mug of melted Sugar Daddies, there will be no objections from this party.

Pantsless fug

Alright. I can overlook the fact that the person who wrote the headline considers these women as adorned with "a bit of glitter" -- the pink outfit, though perhaps not immediately apparent from my poor reproduction of the picture, appears to have been constructed nearly entirely from the remains of a disco ball repurposed after the dismantling of Delhi's latest passe party place. Also disturbing, but not entirely unnerving, are the hairpieces that the women have been styled in: detachable buns styled as if these dainty flowers have just disembarked from a cross-city jaunt on an Enfield or Bajaj scooter.

No, what bothers me most is the nearly nude...churidar? Footless tights? Leggings? The top is an appropriate (if more-than-slightly tacky) dress, but coupling it with some bastard stepchild of Mary Kate Olsen's skintight retro capris and the traditional Indian bottom is confounding, to say the least. Furthermore, if you're so intent on making this the next big thing, why not, at the very least, make the untoward garment the color of the darker stripe, so as to prevent our fine but perhaps more Simpsons-esque sisters the embarrassment of explaining that yes, they are indeed wearing pants?