India's "soft" ware power - Reality or Hype?

Much has been made of India's so-called soft power, the loudest vocalist being our very own Shashi Tharoor. I can assure you this is not mere hype as far as my experience goes.
The Egyptian software programmer with whom I worked with in Kuwait (On Kuwait) surprised me one day when he asked me questions about Amitabh Bachchan. I don't know how this guy from a conservative Arab culture came to hear about the evergreen Bollywood hero, but his name seems to have reached far flung corners of the world. Another occasion of Bollywood power reared its head was while watching a popular German TV show on the German equivalent of MTV in Germany (On Germany). The hep female anchor (who I noticed wore a different hairdo at every one of her shows) mentioned "Hollywood-Bollywood" before a racy Bollywood number was shown. The rest of what she said was in German but the word "Bollywood" was loud and clear. I don't know whether Germans are aware of the thriving film industry in India, but it seems they do have some inkling of it ('Dil to Pagal Hai' must have received publicity in Germany when parts of it were shot there).
That rests the case of the hype about the Indian film industry, but India, Indians and the Indian culture are known for other things as well.
I remember the occasion when before I travelled to Germany, my German boss requested me to bring some Ayurvedic herbs. This was, he said for a friend of his who suffered from chronic pain, but it turned out it was at the behest of his German girlfriend of two years who was a pharmacist in town. Ayurveda must not be much popular away from its cradle in South India, but it is extremely popular in the land which gave the world the science of Homeopathy.
Another request was for Alphonso mangoes, the popular export quality mango strain from India; however I could not fulfil this request, the fact being that I could not procure these costly mangoes in Kerala at short notice, without the risk of being duped by some shrewd businessman who might pass off some commonplace mangoes as "Alphonso".
Another request was from the subordinate of my German boss who requested for a couple of pair of jeans, giving me his waist size as well. I could not understand the reason for this request when I believed the West was the cradle of the jeans culture. When I asked this guy the reason, he told me matter of fact that all the high quality clothes that came to Germany nowadays were imported from countries such as India and other Asian countries. This was proved for good measure once again when my brother in the US of A returned last month with T-shirts manufactured in India and Sri Lanka.
The cycle has turned full circle!

A major lifestyle shift

Last smoked on 9/11/2010
Method: Nicotine gum

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

*Reinhold Niebuhr*


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Oh, the joys of being a multi-linguist!

I am sure most Indians who have gone through high school are well versed in at least three languages - English, a regional language and Hindi - the national language. In case of people residing outside their native state, one could add the mother tongue to this list as well. When I say well versed I mean speak, read and write in at least one and at least speak or read in the other two.
I have mentioned that I speak English, Hindi, Marathi and my mother tongue in Malayalam for good measure in this post. I am sure there are many such stories out there.
What are the not so obvious advantages of multi-linguism?
On the lighter side, I would say would be that I can watch a Bollywood masala movie and experience the typical euphoria that a good flick does without caring much for a true depiction of real life. However if I would like to watch a cold calculated, well researched and realistic movie that has a storyline worthy of a novel, I would go watch a Hollywood blockbuster. And I would undergo a totally different set of emotions for either one. It would be like a switch turning off on one set of perceptions and turning on another.
I am sure a monolingual person can never in his life experience that.
A more useful result would be one where a person would be wearing a different thinking hat each time he converses, reads or writes in a different language.
When one converses in English, he would tend to be formal, business like and professional - the language of the work culture. In a regional language one would switch to a more rustic ambience and try to share the bond of the local language. In Hindi one would be speaking the lingua franca that binds all of us together as the most understood language pan-nation. In one's mother tongue, like how this video parodies, he would be striking a bond that relates to nativity, a bond among Indians that binds better than any other. Not only this, when one speak in any of these languages, he would actually become part of that culture, transforming himself for that moment to a representative of that culture.
Any more ideas out there?