Digital Dispatch - Digital Dispatch- msnbc.com

• Dec. 12, 2007 | 4:20 p.m.

Traveling through India
By, Mara Schiavocampo, digital correspondent

Greetings from India! Today I arrived in Bangalore, the country’s IT Capital, also known as India’s Silicon Valley. I’m working on a few stories related to – what else – the booming IT industry. Keep an eye on the Digital Dispatch page and NBC News programs for more on that.

I’ve only been here a few hours, far too soon for any meaningful musings on the city. But I have made a few interesting observations.

First up, a newspaper headline you’ll probably never see in the U.S. (unless you live near a zoo): “Leopard Killed in Hit-and-Run”. The story was on the front page of the Indian newspaper DNA and definitely triggered a “you’re not in Kansas anymore” moment. You can see the story and sad photo here.

Note to animal lovers: it ain’t pretty.

Next up, a swastika as part of a store’s religious display.

Is a neo-Nazi wave sweeping India? Not so much. Turns out the Nazi’s didn’t create the swastika and Indians who have been using it as a religious symbol for a very long time. One of the store employees told me he considers it a symbol of peace, much like om. What a shame that Hitler perverted the meaning to such a remarkable degree.

A few stores down from the one with the swastika, I saw this sign in a coffee shop and couldn’t help but chuckle.