Ponto de Vista

I’m loving Kolkata. I will admit the best part about it is that it’s not Delhi 😉 But I really do like it for what it is as much as for what it’s not! It’s been a fun working vacation. I’ve covered some great stories and met wonderful people and eaten so much (mishti and tok) that I’m afraid I’ll pop soon. I love the chai stalls everywhere, I love that they’ll accommodate my request for black tea (in a thimble size cup), that there’s squalor (read character) everywhere and the goddess smiles on everyone. Even from behind bars. Even when larger than life, astride a tiger …

“What a nice smile you have. Wow! And you’ve definitely lost weight. You are looking so fabulous! My god, these jeans make you look HOT! And curvy in all the right places. You look perfectly marvelous in this color, too. You simply must wear it all the time. It brings out your eyes so well. We really don’t see you often enough, you know. It’s lovely to have you here, you make the place light up. Really…” 😉

Tiny kiosks selling “American Corns” have become both cottage industry and franchise opp nearly everywhere in metropolitan India. I see them in every market and every mall and movie theatre.
The other day, near a stall that sell the steamed “corns” (in masala – yum, Chinese – too salty, Italian – too much oregano, and American – absolutely bland flavors) I found the discarded packaging of the frozen kernels.
It gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies every time I see it written down as corns (plural).
I always, always get a mental visual that grosses me out. In fact, a simple google search will show you exactly what I mean.
Ick, ick, ick, ick.

As pretty much anyone who will listen long enough to hear me complain knows by now, I fell down the stairs last week and got pretty severe whiplash. I finally succumbed and got myself a stupid neck brace (also called a ‘collar’) (Please. I’ve already heard all the jokes) and, to my chagrin, it does help support my neck and prevent extra strain.
The brand of my brace is “MGRM.” In cursive, the acronym is spelled out below the trademarked logo: “May God Rehabilitate Mankind“. I was rather hoping the manufacturers of the brace would step in there, honestly…

There are several of these dudes who criss cross our neighborhood on these decked out bikes, crying “jhadoo, mop, wiper” in their sing song voice. I just love the sight, though I confess I have yet to give any one of them business… but when I lived in the States, I often yearned for an old fashioned stoop-and-sweep ‘jhadoo’. I never got the hang of the witch-type brooms.
I think I like the Rastafarian feather dusters best, though the red halo type rings are very intriguing, too.

This was taken in Goa — right near the NON-path through god knows who’s backyards to Curly’s at South Anjuna. So much for beating around the bush, this is precisely where our cab driver chucked us out, threw his car into reverse and left us standing in the dark.
The sign I wish I had been able to take a picture of, however, was better. It said, in big red letters on white, “PLEASE. YOU THINK POSITIVE” (yes, really!)
I was on my way to the airport, pretty sure I’d miss my flight, so we didn’t stop. 🙁

This is Ollie — our vet’s cat in Mumbai. The last time I took Ruff to the vet, Ollie was more interested in grooming herself than Ruff (though she played nice with me.) Ruff, too old to bother about chasing cats was more interested in trying to escape everytime the door opened — so we took him out for a walk, leaving Ollie mistress of her domain again. The doggie in this picture is actually a poster that goes behind the pet weighing-scale, but she’s fearless, anyway. 😉 I’ve seen her reduce macho brutes to simpering fools & quivering, overheated springs. 😉 The vet also has a brown doberman who seems to snooze pretty much all day. Ah, it’s a dog‘s life … or a cat’s, if you’re Ollie.

I can’t wait to move to bombay and get a cat, allergies be damned.

Spotted on the Jangpura/Def Col flyover … a pigeon tree. When we went by the first time, someone had put feed out for them, they were everywhere. It really was Hitchcockian. On the way back, they’d settled down some — and we took this photo from the right side of the road 😉

This gem from a hosiery/underwear store in Lajpat Nagar Central Market 🙂 Don’t miss the fact that “Romance” is juxtaposed with the rather prosaic “Groversons, etc.”…

When I lived in Poland, I would frequently be frustrated at the attempts at English signage by local businesses. Maybe I’ve just gotten old, or jaded, or lazy — but I have started finding such bizarro spellings and bastardizations of English charming these days 😉 Andar ki baat hai.

Uhh, this board is at the ISKCON temple (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) inviting people to the ‘Vedic Expo’ at the Glory of India Vedic Cultural Centre.
It’s the “World’s number 1 Spritual Adventure”, and a “hi-tech
production” featuring “1. Bharat Dharma, 2 Bhagwad Gita and 3. Robotics”. Uh, when I worked for Science & Theology News, we’d have jumped all over this. However, at this point, I confess to be slightly alarmed at the juxtapositioning of Krishna’s ‘universal appeal’ with 9 robots. I’d rather go to Essel World and get my thrills there!