Ponto de Vista

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!

This was taken in Sarojini Nagar market — the capital for surplus and export-rejects shopping. Here you can keep up with the Joneses (literally) by shopping for U.S. department store brands in the open — and you can bargain down, too!

If you’re lucky, you could find three samples of the very same grey wool sweater with each one bearing a different label: Gap, Express, or Abercrombie & Fitch. As I did — I got the A&F one 😉 For the equivalent of $3.80.

But if you’re really, truly lucky, you’d definitely want to thank your maker for such a fantastic price as on these ‘stolls’ and ‘skarps’, non?

Next to each other, in Masjid Moth, two dry cleaners with names that compete for attention and your sense of humor. I go with the more prosaically named “the Cleaners” — not for their name, but because they have not only free home delivery, but also free pick-up. Yeah, baby, I’m living la vida local 😉 Go desi! It’s the best way!

Save your breath. You don’t have to say the whole word anymore — just go with pomengrade 😉 It tastes so good with ‘save” puri :wink;

Sometimes a little intervention helps, I guess.
Especially when you’re getting certain fluids tested…?

At the cinema in Vasant Vihar, security pretends to be strict. They make you check your bags (even laptops) at the chaiwala near by. The alternative is to skip the movie and wait for your friends or go home … so grumbling and exasperated, I checked it in for the princely (and not really confidence-inspiring) sum of Rs. 10. And when I went to pick it up I found a whole fresh batch of chai being brewed, ready to be served into these tiny, tiny cups. Oh well. I guess such a small quantity is good for somebody! (I need a much larger fix.)

So, while I do miss Trader Joe’s and biking along the Charles in Boston, the one thing I’ve found a good substitute for is the library. I actually patronize (that sounds awful) Eloor
which is beautifully stocked and really a pleasure to visit. The other day, though, I was surprised to find that the hole-in-the-wall library I frequented as a kid, daily (except on Mondays when they were closed, so I was allowed two books on Sundays,) had re-opened. As a 7-year-old I would ride to the library sitting side-saddle on the back rack of our Man Friday’s bike. By the time I was 11, I was deemed old enough to manage the 8-minute walk on my own. Displaying my OCD tendencies even then, I serially ploughed through all the Enid Blytons, Carolyne Keene’s, Franklin W. Dixons, Alfred Hitchcocks, Robert Arthurs‘s Three Investigator books (Jupitor Jones is responsible, I’m sure, for my obsession with business cards) graduating on to Sidney Sheldon and Lawrence Anderson. What was my mother thinking?? Nah, I’m glad she gave me free reign. Yes, I was precocious, but, hey, I knew stuff!! 😀 Oh and the 3L’s are: Live, Laugh, Learn. Cute, no?

After work one day, I decided to do a bit of shopping at Lajpat Nagar market — one of the largest markets in Asia — and on my way back at gloaming, my cycle rickshaw walla (whom I chose over an auto rickshaw since it’s environmentally sounder) decided to go the wrong way up Ring Road — only the busiest thoroughfare in Delhi! That’s the view over the rickshaw walla’s shoulder as I held on tight with one hand, continually gasping in disbelief that we didn’t get hit, head on!
I don’t recommend it. It’s hair raising to have cars, buses, and scooters (and random pedestrians dashing across!) aim at you and only just barely miss!

but alas, not the kind of sake I would like it to be… this is Cake Palace’s version of a shake.

Hmm, that makes me think of the Cuban-Chinese cocktails at Peking Tom’s in Boston. A lot of folks didn’t like the idea of a Sake-rita (using sake instead of tequila) but I quite enjoyed it… and the cumquat mojito…

Anyway, someone should tell them that milk sake sounds completely tongue-curdling, but a milkshake is an animal of an entirely different color, no?

A comforting sign in the elevator at the Kumars’ (no, not the Kumars at Number 42.)