So far this Olympics, Indian athletes have garnered a grand total of one medal-- a gold in the 10-meter men's air rifle event (whatever that is). This matches the total number of medals India earned during the entire 2004 Games-- one silver in men's double trap shooting.

For a warm-weather country of 1.1 billion, you'd think India might fare better than this. So where are all India's medals? Here are a couple possible explanations:

1. Cricket is not an Olympic sport. In many ways, cricket is to India what baseball is to the United States. It is the country's most popular sport, and India's national team is consistently one of the best in the world. But cricket games can last for days, and this does not lend itself to Olympic competition. There may be hope, though: Some are suggesting that a shorter version of cricket called Twenty20 should be added to the 2020 Olympics.

2. Many Indians eat strictly vegetarian diets. In many ways, vegetarianism is just as healthy-- if not more so-- than a diet that includes meat. But vegetarian diets can also be lower in protein, which is important in muscle development. About a third of India's population are vegetarians.

3. Much of India is still poor. Though India's economy is developing rapidly, much of its population remains poor. In general, people are only free to pursue athletics once they've achieved a certain standard of living. But this does not explain why countries like China, Romania, and North Korea are still able to do well in the medal count.

If you're looking for a fresh take on the Grand-Tour-Through-India travelogue, one with a heavy dose of culture (and even danger!), check out Niraj Sheth's blog on his roadtrip by rickshaw through southern India.

What makes this blog--running until the end of this week--stand out is Niraj's unique perspective as a Wall Street Journal reporter and in his own words, as a ABCD: "American-born, confused desis [slang for Indian]."

His commentary about how the local Indians view him is especially sharp, and humorous in parts. For instance, one mechanic, and he seems to need many, jabbers to a friend in front of Niraj, who has spoken Hindi throughout his life, "It's amazing he speaks Hindi so well."

The multimedia here is also better than most--make sure not to miss the photo slide-show and intro video below.

It amazes me how Hollywood can make fantastic movies that usually pay tremendous attention to getting facts right, but when it comes to the representation of distinctly different cultures, they often get it wrong. Seriously wrong. And what's sad is that it's intentional, and for pure commercial gain.

The latest such case is soon to be released Hollywood movie starring Mike Myers -- "Love Guru". Its release has strongly been protested against by religious Hindus across the US for lampooning Hinduism, mocking Ashram life and Hindu philosophy, and laughing at religious Hindu practices.

This movie releases tomorrow, so such protests have been made purely basis news and trailers; having watched the trailer and seen the website, I was pretty embarrassed at what I was seeing. An Indian "guru" being ridiculous and ridiculing various aspects of Hinduism that millions of Hindus consider sacred. One of his "sutras" encourages you to go to a fake porn site, the yoga positions are stupid, you can even find him spreading his "knowledge" on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

The movie revolves around the "second best Indian love guru coming to the US" and then you see various snippets of him:1) in a bar (drinking is not accepted in Hinduism, 2) hitting on Jessica Alba and getting a kick out of knowing she had a lesbian experience in college (homosexuality is taboo), 3) Making fun of yoga positions, the list goes on.

When I watched this video, I honestly didn't think they were actually going to throw the baby off the building! They did.

Granted, it was a soft landing, but still.

Muslims in western India have been observing a bizarre ritual - they've been throwing their young children off a tall building to improve their health, writes Reuters.The faithful have been observing the ritual at a shrine in Solapur, in western India's Maharastra, for more than five hundred years. They believe it will make their children strong and say no accidents have ever happened.

I think it's time Islam hired a global PR agency to deal with all their publicity crisis. This one is no crowd pleaser, either.

Talk to anyone from India and if you can't comment on the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament that just kicked off, odds are that you'll be made redundant for any further communication.

The tournament is the latest craze that has hit the country, and has left people bedazzled with illusion of what will be over 7-weeks of dance, music, and sport "hungama" (madness). This is of no surprise as it involves the two things that practically run the country: Bollywood and cricket.

This is the first time that international cricketers will put aside national loyalties to play in a private tournament wherein the players were selected by a multi-million-dollar auction earlier this year. Over 100 national and international players have been offered bundles of cash to participate in the 44-day, 59-match, 8-city, cricket league in India.

The 8 teams, named after main cities in India, were also bought in an auction by Indian business moguls like Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya, and Bollywood stars like Sharukh Khan and Priti Zinta.

The opening ceremony last Friday in Bangalore was a 45-minute Bollywood-style extravaganza with music, fireworks, light-shows and acrobats flown in from the Washington Redskins cheerleaders group, and attended by 55,000 people. You can watch bits of it here.

Unfortunately, it looks like this event of such hype and hysteria will not be covered by world news agencies because of a brawl over event photo distribution rights.

In India, Bollywood and cricket are as embedded in our culture as chai and squat toilets. You have to understand them to understand us. I have no doubt that this tournament will be a roaring success and I wish I could be in India for some of the matches! Living abroad has its cons. Sigh.

Kashmir probably does not evoke emotions of vacationing and relaxation in most people. After 18 years of militant violence, Kashmir wants to rebrand themselves from a heavily militarized Himalayan region to a global golfing destination.

According to this article in the NY Times, Kashmir's government believes that golf will attract tourists who spend more than the penny-pinching backpackers who still come to trek in the mountains and stay on Srinagar's latticed wooden houseboats. The state is spending $6.2 million to build a golf course in the winter capital, Jammu, to be completed later in the year, the fifth course in the region, and an international airport is scheduled to open in the summer.

My question is, Is there a country out there, which is supposedly not a golf destination nowadays?

Sometimes, it is fun to read the Chinese The People's Daily newspaper. Among other entertaining things, I have noticed how they tend to over-report anything bad that's going on with India. Do I sense a little competition for the world's best new superpower?

Anyway, so I read in The People's Daily newspaper that rats ravaged India and a million people face famine as a result of it. Specifically, they write: "Hordes of rats ravaged the forests of Mizoram, India, feasting on the fruits of wild bamboo that flower every 48 years, then ate the region's entire paddy crop leaving about a million people facing famine, officials and aid agencies said on Monday."

It gets better. "Their harvest lost to rats, some villagers are now working as daily wage laborers on a World Bank-funded road project. Farmers complained that they found work for only one day a month and earned just a little over 2 U.S. dollars."

Now, can you believe that? That would NEVER happen in China!

Whenever I am in a Spanish speaking country, I feel really special. Every time, I get a check, it says "IVA incluido." That alone isn't bad news for me, but since everyone else is getting checks with "IVA included," it makes me feel, you know, a little cheap.

IVA is the Spanish equivalent for the VAT, so I find my name everywhere: from checks to car showrooms. I guess, it is not as bad as running for President with a name like Barack Hussein Obama, but CNN reports that crazy names are totally common for Indian politicians.

Here are a few of the people competing for legislative seats in India: Frankenstein Momin, Billy Kid Sangma, Britainwar Dan, Admiral Sangma, Bombersingh Hynniewta, Laborious Manik Syiem, Hilarius Pohchen, Boldness Nongrum, Clever Marak and Adolf Lu Hitler Marak.

Hitler must be a popular name in Mumbai. The restaurant "Hitler Cross" was forced to change its name, however, after Mumbai's Jewish community protested.

Even though it's nearly impossible to take a bad photo of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, I'd still like to congratulate Gadling reader pixelskew for snapping this amazing shot. It's so perfectly symmetrical, the only way you can tell it's not just half of an image doubled over is by looking at the crowd of people at the base of the mausoleum. Just as impressive is the sky, which gradually changes from blue to pink to white to green. Magnificent. Pixelskew also gets bonus points because I was there not even a week after this picture was taken, back in December of 2006.

If you'd like to contribute a Photo of the Day shot for consideration, please visit our Gadling Flickr pool and upload your favorites.

There's a really unique look at India on exhibit at the Newark Museum right now. India: Public Places/Private Spaces is devoted to contemporary art and photography from 28 Indian artists. A cornerstone program running in conjunction with the exhibit is a two-day symposium taking place Oct. 27-28: India: Changing the Way We See will include lectures, readings and film screenings by a select group of internationally renowned scholars, writers and artists as they explore the impact of a rapidly changing India on the global art scene. There will also be an art workshop about Bollywood on November 17 and a family Thanksgiving program celebrating the arts and culture of India on November 23. The art exhibit runs through January 6, 2008.

The Newark Museum has over 80 galleries, including African, American and Asian collections. They have a really nice museum shop too. The Museum is located in the downtown arts district, not far from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.