Ponto de Vista

At Kamakhya Debutter temple, a cat keeps an eye on two rock doves sheltering in a nook by a sculpture. Look in the bottom right for the birds.
The temple itself is imposing. I didn’t go in. The fast track entry (Rs. 100) was almost as long as the general (free) entry queue to enter the vestibule and visit with the Goddess Who Bleeds* was estimated at an hour and a half and I didn’t feel like paying Rs. 500 for super fast entry. I did see a monkey attack devotees and help himself to their food offerings though, as well as some atavistic goddesses in surrounding chambers. And this curious cat, ready to spring.

This is in Aamchi Mumbai, in the Ranwar village – that is Chapel road and Waroda road – Bandra. There is much better, clearer graffiti up in the area, including the famous Amitabh Bachchan wall, but then, the bike and kitty weren’t there, now, were they? (I also learned that this area was called Colaria Grande by the Portuguese and is one of the original koliwadas, or fishing hamlets, that made up the island of Bondura.)

Sorry for the humongous picture but I had to show you perspective. This little one was up high on top of a garage, drinking water from a leak in a syntex water tank pipe. I thought he was awesome.

Under the benign gaze of a very handsome (and lean) Shiv, this monkey saved the Ganga from pollution…she single-handedly (ok, she used both hands) pulled out two mangoes in a plastic bag that a family was chilling in the river. She saved us all from the menace of plastic and ate both mangoes herself (as the family looked on, helpless to rescue the mangoes from her avarice) 🙂

I guess warmth is welcome wherever. Taken at the platform of Haridward station at 4 in the morning, when it was wet and cold outside. As I watched, this stray approached this sleeping family and then snuggled up on their temporary bed…

I came across this beauty scared stiff because a very ill-meaning man was trying to set a dog on her, but the dog just wouldn’t get it. Good for the dog 🙂
Man and dog moseyed off and the cat finally uncurled her tail and then rolled around to get extra pats and cuddles, looking very much in charge of the carriage.
You know where this rickshaw is, in Mumbai, don’t you? 🙂

Oh and this one was taken with my new Samsung Nexus S which has no zoom but is pretty good, eh?

This actually says “The myth of youth guardian angel” and then the rest of the text says “enhance body energy; revitalizing to the skin” – 60 capsules made from the placenta of sheep.

Err. Right, then. The damn thing says “myth” and people still buy it? The elixir of youth based on not even a half-claim. If I remember right, these cost something like USD 100! Holy cow! Or sheep. Or something.

Behind Ta Prom in Angkor Thom, as my fellow travelers meditated on the incredible roots of the trees that have taken over the ancient temple, this fellow came along and perched on me.
I waited for a long time for him to get moving so I could capture how dazzling his iridescent his tiny blue/black wings were – but he flew too fast and in quick bursts which made all the motion pictures totally blurry.
He flew off and came back to perch on my finger three times in total – and I have no idea what made my finger so attractive. But there he was. And I wasn’t complaining about being so favored! 🙂

Fish massage (or “FiMassaa” in the patois spoken by the guys trying to tempt you into getting one) is quite a popular thing for tourists to try in South East Asia. In Cambodia, at the night market, we were accosted by a FiMassa guy. Sure enough, there was a white dude sitting on the lip of this inflatable swimming pool with tiny fish nibbling away at his feet. He merely smiled, albeit wryly, in response to my inquiring look. This poster almost made me sign up for a 5 minute session 😉 But then I guess I still ‘felt confused matter of me’ even after dinner so I didn’t.

Think I could have gotten the daily tour (good use of space, no?) for less if I’d gotten Dr. Fish at my heels? 😉
Click the image for a larger, clearer picture.

In March, I visited Rani Baug, which houses both Mumbai’s zoo and the Victoria & Albert Museum, now the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Byculla. We had such perfect timing, we chanced upon the albino peacock just as he unfurled his beautiful tail and tried to get the attention of the very coy peahen (visible on a perch on the left.) It was gorgeous! Very soap opera-esque. Yeah! Someone told me it’s all happening at the zoo 😉 We saw sleeping rhinos, a python, gazelle, neelgay, sambar, beautiful birds, including one of paradise – all with bad or no signage. The bird of paradise, an unusual red and green specimen was identified as a “mynah” – a terrible travesty.
The only decent sign we saw, however, was … audacious in its sheer stupidity. Click on the peacock picture to see the only sign of explanation 😉