Test full. C’mon. It’s test-full icecream. Just like the kulfi you get in Chowpatty which is “with the full of nuts and fruit”.
Sorry for the blur. I had my taxi wallah slow down but the vendor to whose bicycle this icebox was attached kept darting back and forth, even as he smiled happily for my camera phone! 🙂
graffiti in Amsterdam near Central Station.
It’s like Peter Gabriel’s Milgram’s 37 song, which, has the sum lyric of “We do what we’re told”. The lyric refers, of course, to Milgram’s experiment on how authority can make people torture other people (mob mentality for violence //nazis, religionist/casteist/racist/genderists). And this link taught me something I didn’t know: When he performed this in concert, Gabriel got the crowd chanting “We do what we’re told.” Since the song was not yet released and the crowd did not know its meaning, they were ironically aping the results of the experiment by doing just as Gabriel told them.
err, cos I’m a new vegetarian? I knew a vegetarian? I’m not sure, either. What do you think it’s supposed to mean?I spotted this flapping in the breeze on 31st road, Bandra, out of the corner of my eye. I kept walking and I guess somewhere in my head, I was trying hard to process it and figure out what it really said. Then I just had to go back and check it. The seller was more than happy to let me take a photo 🙂 If you want one of these, let me know. I’ll take orders in S, M, L and XL 🙂
While I was in Germany and the Netherlands, I took a couple of walking tours and the English guides in both Amsterdam and Berlin made the same jokes about how creative the natives were when it came to naming things. The national monument is called “The National Monument,” the concert hall is “The Concert Hall,” etc. etc. etc. Well, we have our Mahatma Gandhi Margs and our Chhatrapati Shivaji everythings to counter it.
Still, some of it was amusing to me. Like this shop. Perfectly named, who could ask for more? 🙂
Sometimes I really do think it’s a dog’s life. And then I see the strays shivering in the cold or dripping in the monsoon rain and feel bad for them. I guess Bombay is still kinder to them than other, less temperate parts of our country. This critter lives in the shadow of one of the largest temples in Bombay. But he has it made in the shade. Every time I see him, he’s found a new spot to beat the heat. We’ve never talked, but I suspect he’s a happy little fellow, based on his profoundly mellow expression. I know, first a flirty Batman, now anthropomorphism taken to a fresh height. It’s pathetic 😉
and in Mumbai 😉 But not in Amsterdam, even if you’re Batman 🙂
This charming mime was on Damrak around the corner from Dam Square where Darth Vader, the Joker, a mummy, and a robot were all posing.
But Batman‘s always been my favorite and he bowed to me ever so courteously, I was charmed.
So I dropped a few cents into his bowl and then we blew kisses at each other. And I walked away smiling. Or not. Maybe that just happened in my head. 😉
I wanted to put up something Christmas-y and I guess I’ve been in a quirkier, lazier mood than usual so this is all I got! Merry Christmas all, from Chhavi Noticed This! and a bloom from my very own balcony “garden”.
It’s the only one we’ve had, although the bougainvillea is drooping with blossoms. Where I lived in Mass. had wonderful soil for roses – there were houses boasting 60-year old bushes that were pretty much knotty, gnarled trees with massive, fragrant flowers. I’ve never been crazy about roses, but these were heady. And then I had a friend who once stopped on the bike path and made this elaborate show of deviating, stopping, and sniffing. I made a point of stopping and smelling the roses every day after that. 🙂
I went to Bhopal to report on the 25th anniversary of the Union Carbide/Dow gas leak and found there was so much more to the story than that one night and the inhalation of the poison. There’s stories of shirked corporate responsibility, incredible government oversight and cuckoldry, stories of death, cancer, spontaneous abortions, animals ripping open, respiratory illnesses, ongoing denial, costly treatment, ignorance – and through the rips, hope. The commemorative Bhopal statue was designed by a Dutch lady called Ruth. And it’s symbolic. This replica is in the office of the Chingari Trust. The women of Bhopal really have been key in carrying the struggle forward — to make sure that the world doesn’t let another Bhopal happen.
Even for me – an educated journalist who considers herself abreast with news – it was an eye opener – how the water is still contaminated, how everyone drinks it daily because there are few alternatives, how the children are stunted and sick and dying. I have hours of audio and hundreds of photos to prove it. If you want to see them or listen, email me. I’ll share. Meanwhile, visit www.bhopal.net and www.bhopal.org to raise your voice. And check out the Chingari Trust if you want to contribute something towards the children.
I know people who make the stars, but I hadn’t thought far enough to the people who make kandils/phanooses 🙂 This lady was on my way home after a walk and she was painstakingly putting papers on the frames and then decorating them with handmade roses – such works of art!
This is really my favorite time of year. Most building in Mumbai have lights and lanterns in their balconies – several even have color coordinated ones. Coming into the city from the airport, the government colonies look like multistoried fairy tale houses, each block uniformly sporting a different colored kandil: 21 houses with all yellow kandils, the next 21 with all orange, then 21 of red. It’s magical.
Which reminds me, we haven’t strung up our lights yet. How will Lakshmi know where to come if it’s all dark here? 🙂
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