Ponto de Vista

On Saturday, a bunch of us from work plus other friends went to the poolside lounge at the Park hotel near Jantar Mantar. It’s called Aqua and it was lovely. I loved, loved, loved it.
There was a cool breeze blowing, a dj spinning great lounge and house music, pitchers of LIIT and Passion Bay … we even got to sit at the edge of the pool and dip our feet in. Aaaah! And of course we danced, the lack of a dancefloor being no object.
Earlier, 6 of us had gotten ready together at my house over sandwiches and Bacardi … and it was like being back in college. Later we went to the Yellow Brick Road and had a variety of random things (coffee, tea, soup, dessert, and a sandwich) between us ;D)

Taken early last month when friends and I went to a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan concert at Siri Fort Auditorium. As we were waiting to enter the parking lot, we were overtaken by a ghodi. As her rider took her past us, I noticed the duo had a shadow. I found it so cute. Here they are.

Yesterday, a chapter closed on the long-drawn saga of my elliptical machine. Three weeks ago, when I started looking for gyms I found they had all been sealed — i.e. the police had shut them down for operating out of residences. (Idiots!) So I did some research and found that the cost of 5 months of membership to one of these home-grown gyms pretty much equaled the cost of a mid-level elliptical machine (the only machine I do at the gym b/c of my feet.) After some serious comparison shopping, I found a good deal and paid an advance to have it sent to my house. That was more than two weeks ago. The piece “got stuck in customs,” had “trouble unloading,” “got stopped at the border,” and finally made it to Delhi, I’m told, but for some reason the dude had stopped answering my calls. Finally, I got him to commit (and that word is always used very loosely around these parts) to a time. Three more commitments later and many hours spent waiting and rearranging plans around the estimated drop-off time, I finally called off the deal and went to get my advance back. (I don’t know why I really expected the chap to show up at the time he said he would, honestly. I’m so naive sometimes.) And instead of the black model I’d chosen, I had to opt for this devilish red, flamed one instead from another vendor because it was in stock. And surprise, surprise! It actually showed up at home as promised, when promised!

Near Kirti’s house in Mumbai is a temple (I didn’t check to which god to Hanuman) that is called Shri Ghanteshwar (or the Lord of Bells’-God). It is festooned with more bells than you can imagine. When you go pray for something, you tie a ghanti, or bell, and it will come true, I presume. I didn’t have my real camera on me, only my cell phone. Forgive the grainy quality. I’ll update it another time with a better shot. But know that each bump and swirl on the pillars and such is a bell (not ivy 😉 ). (March 9, 2007)

At Dilli Haat, the toilets are VeRy visible. In the foreground is Piya, who also moved back from the US — about a month before I did.

This is a view of the very festive Mata Ka Mandir in Jhandewalan taken from a window at work on the 8th floor of Videocon Tower (an extreme eyesore of a building) in which we work. Reflected in the glass are (from left to right) me, Rani, Rajat, and Ragini

A neat art installation put together impromptu by the bouncer at the Morrison Cafe in South Ex 🙂
When we arrived, the helmets and gloves had just lined the bottom two steps. The bouncer had been creative during our short stay…

Look at that baby mouse — beseeching me not to eat him. I resisted for a long time, then I figured, with all apologies to the poor dear, James, and Ami — he was made to be eaten. And in Delhi’s heat, he’d simply spoil if I didn’t put him to rest. <sigh> Broke my heart, but he was delicious! And now I have a L. A. Burdick box from the heart of Harvard Square to keep trinkets in.