Ponto de Vista

Is it an airplane? Is it an office building?

This eyesore sits en route from Hyderabad airport to the city centre. We were gasping at it both on arrival and departure. Would you want to work here?

In Berlin’s river Spree, they put up soaring public art that stretches your imagination and makes you wonder. In Mumbai’s ocean, they want to put yet another Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Some of the coolest graffiti I’ve ever seen – in Seville, Spain. July 2012

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…

This was Delhi. Two sadhus. Two monkeys. I asked if I could take a photo. The man in the photo said “Kyu nahin?” (Why not?) The sadhu behind him called out for money, shouting, “Paisa to de do!” I ignored him. As did the monkeys.

Rourkee station, a sudden storm of freezing cold rain. The mendicants and homeless huddle. And this magnificent Brahma bull with them.

We reached Haridwar and got to the jetty for crossing the Ganges by boat and clapped eyes on this sadhu, smoking a chillum as he surveyed Ganga Maiya. What was he thinking?

Finally, inspiration for what to do with the only shape and size of anything I can kinda crochet. I found this in a very badly named children’s furnishing store (“SotoMoto.” Yes, that tells me everything about what you retail. Not.) in Delhi’s Hauz Khas village. I thought the lamps were delightful and inspirational. Yay! Finally something I can make that is useful (as opposed to scarves, which are ridiculously impractical for the climate of Mumbai). 😀

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.