Ponto de Vista

Indians never fail to amaze me. We want to etch our names on every space we can find – “Yes, I was here. I really was. So what if I’m never coming back and that it destroys the serenity, sanctity, authenticity, or aesthetic of where I am. Dude, *I* was here!”
I’ve seen celebs try to talk sense into the junta, I’ve heard academics discussing white boards and pin boards at monuments so people can scribble on those rather than the walls, but this … this is the first time I’ve seen something like this and it’s all over the Hawah Beach area of Trivandrum’s Kovalam beach. Unbelievable!

This is a shrine in Anegundi, Karnataka (across the Tungabhadra river from Hampi) where long-suffering parents who were worried about their still single (stubborn) kids came to ask the goddess for help. If you donated a statue in the image of your child and placed it just so, apparently they’d get hitched pronto. And the four of us single women took in this view and digested the tale and laughed.

That’s me. I’m proud to have voted. I’m pleased to be able to exercise my rights and do my civic duty. This time was MUCH easier than the last time in 2009. I’m still the wrong age, have the wrong name, and am listed in the wrong gender, but they overlooked all that. I only drew attention to the spelling and the ‘purush’ part but both the list booth and the polling agent brushed it off as a typo. And after 3 minutes of being in line, I had verified my identity, pushed my selection, and I was out. I didn’t even get to crack open Kiran Manral’s The Reluctant Detective that I’d thought to bring along with me based on the long wait last time! 🙂

P.S. I’m very disillusioned by my friends who haven’t voted. What do you do with your friends whose ideologies and basic values don’t match yours? Demotion? Deletion?

Mmmm. 😀 all kinds of ‘digestives’ on display at the Prabhadevi Fair. I’m reminded how someone I know used to use the hing goli, which really is a farty, tarty affair as penalty points during gaming. They would make their colleagues eat one if he accidentally killed someone on his own team.
Anyway, besides the usual suspects of mango, anardana (pomegranate), jeera, hing, ginger, awla, saunf, there’s also local flavor with kokum goli. Yummy!

P.s. I still do miss cinnamon hearts… that blossom in grocery stores across America at this time of year ;D

Usually, these say things like “Don tuch me” 😀 I thought this was an interesting variation. The cabbie was initially upset because he thought I was photographing the meter to trounce him for cheating on the fare (which he well may have been).Then I said, no, I liked his Ganeshji, and he could very well reset it to zero.

Once he was satisfied I really, truly liked it, he turned the meter back down to zero and then suggested angles from which I could get better shots 😀

Run, run for your lives. There’s something in the milk!

C’mon, it looks like a mini Spock! What were they thinking? Is this what will happen to us if we drink their milk/energee/lassi? Yikes!

And who dressed him? Where did they even find the outfit?
Have you seen this yet? Know where it is? Post a comment and share 😉

where else would you go for your silveries? 🙂
P.S. Santa Cruz market is amazing. I went through it like a little child, eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape, fascinated by the melange, nah barrage, of shine! Shiny clothes, shiny toys, shiny bangles, shiny accessories, shiny fabric and embroidery – wow!

So, in Mumbai, the German consulate general is around the corner from Israel’s. And outside the Israeli consulate is a lot of security. Or the semblance of it. On a recent walk down NCPA marg, we caught sight of these camouflage jackets adorning a barricade. I think the security personnel were around somewhere (maybe in the bushes? watching me take a photo?) … just not in sight. I got eyeballed by a very sturdy looking man in civilian clothes though, so I beat a quick retreat 🙂

Interesting marketing, no? This made me laugh.
It’s just chikki (peanut brittle) shaped into small laddoo balls but they’re connected to each other in clusters of 4 or 5.
Voila! Kababs!

P.s. these came from Delhi 🙂

If you are a bindicoot, I do think you should watch for this. It sounds totally dangerous.
What I found as funny as the name of the product is that “Chasy Cat” has this lovely tear-off dispenser but the grocer has stocked it with the ‘Laxman Rekha’ cockroach repellent.
Which reminds me of the BEST ever sign for “krezy rat maar” painted on the Mahim causeway wall. The tagline, in Hindi, read “choohon ka encounter kar de“.