Late at night when the young Punjabi cabbies came in, my Manhattan gym would play their bhangra CDs. In Harlem it was booty videos 24/7, while the Silicon Valley TVs fixate on money honeys.

I wanted out. I wanted control of my audioscape while doing my ten thirty minutes on the treadmill. The first step was getting an MP3 player, which back in the day was an extravagance. I regretted splurgimg but kept the device, because it let me run to a Karmacy soundtrack without monotony.

Having a wireless tablet takes narrowcasting to the next level. The first a-ha! moment was pulling up an Umrao Jaan clip at the store to show to my brother. On the elliptical thingamajig today I discovered that Cornershop’s ‘Topknot’ vid also used footage from Patang (Kite). Cool.

Then read some Atlas of Unknowns, the free preview:

Hmm, a lot of food exoticism in the beginning. And finished off with:

Two days ago I watched a clip from Nacho Libre, and the woman on the chubmill next to me peered intently at the outlandish costumed wrestling scenes. It’s only a matter of time before you’ll get live satellite feeds.

The gym will eventually turn into a portable Glassy Junction, which mounts tumbis and bhangra vids on the wall, accepts payment in rupees and uses oversized, 1.5-liter whisky bottles when it pours. Who needs to live in a desi hood when you’ve got one in your pocket?

Related posts: New shop on the corner, Kite story