Its not uncommon in India to see patrons invocate a small prayer while on their way to work, without quite alighting from their vehicle. Such a sight is more common outside the smaller temples, where the deity is physically not very far from the road. This was taken outside the famous Moti Dongri Ganesh temple in Jaipur.
Here’s heartily wishing everyone a happy, peaceful and successful new year. May all your prayers be answered too!
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There is news to cheer about for all those grieving the extermination of the Jedi tribe. Darth Sidius’ swift and ruthless attack (The revenge of the Sith) it seems was not completed to perfection. Apart from Master Yoda and Master Kenobi, a small packet of Jedi resistance in the remote Indian city of Jaipur managed to evade the intent of order 66, and has now for a few generations kept alive the heritage of the Jedi clan. Seen above is a young apprentice practicing the ancient Jedi art, using the influence of the force to levitate a brick.
“And a time there will come, when out of the great sands of Tatoine and The Thar, will a new power rise. And balance to the force and peace and stability to the Republic this force will bring” – Yoda
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This is my entry for the Birds theme at the weekly Bangalore Shutterbugs contest. I took this snap one evening, from our terrace here in Jaipur. I changed the image’s colour balance and then processed it with the ‘comic strip’ tool to achieve this surreal effect.
Feels like love is the in air!
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We are lucky that the adjacent plot and the plot behind our backyard are vacant. This means that we get to see plenty of different birds and animals living out their lives. In my three days or so since coming, I have seen and caught on camera mynas (of two varieties), sparrows, bulbuls, partridges, parrots, sun birds, pigeons and something that resembles a roadrunner. Amongst the animals I get to see goats, camels (occasionally), dogs and cows. But I was fascinated most by the plenty of field mice that scurry around.
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Yesterday I was taking a closer look at a group of busy ants, ferrying away some food to their homes. It’s quite an education to observe the way they communicate and help each with their work. When a bit later, I saw the same scene as a digital picture on my computer, it inspired me to have a nice tongue-in-cheek go at the roles and responsibilities in the realm of our corporate world. My favourite in this image is the Quality officer who according to popular lore, keeps an eye out to make everyone's life less worth living, and who always buzzes on the precipice just before a product delivery is made, waiting to point out flaws in it.
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Sigh! I can't make up my mind between handsome Henry and dependable Dave.
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Caught this great tussle between two soldier ants. I think it was a do-or-die battle as one held the other in this grasp for quite some time.
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I am finally at home for a three week vacation. I think Jaipur is at its best in the winter season. The sights and sounds that winter brings along with it make up for the bitter chill in the air at this time. I would vouch for the Rajsathani locals as being probably the simplest and easiest to get along with people in India. Add to this the colour and gaiety that they normally infuse into their living, and you can be assured that their company is enjoyable and fun loving at almost all times.
The exception to ‘all’ being if you have them for company on a train journey. Having studied in a college in South India, I have made numerous trips from either Bangalore or Chennai to Jaipur, and I have almost always been blessed with a decent sized Marwari (one class of ethnic locals from Rajasthan) family as co-journeymen. The typical family would consist of one huge (horizontally challenged) male, an equally bloated brother, a slim wife and two noisy young kids. If you are really down on your luck, the kids’ grandparents would have also decided to make the trip.
There is the rather curious affair of how the Marwaris age – as he steps into old age, the Marwari male to some degree loses his mass, and the wife does her very best to restore family neutrality by gaining some. In case of confusion in identifying who is who, the lady (mother-in-law) can always be identified by the huge key bunch that jingles merrily at her waist, having been stuffed with much effort between her sari and the emerging flab.
The only point of attention and interest for the journeying Marwari family is in their food. Four courses at least must travel down the esophagus, without which peace and sleep they will get not. Sweets and savouries form the bulk of this diet, supplemented with frequent indulgence in fruit. The fruit is generally fed in equal measure to both the family members and the train compartment floor! The other activities that the Marwaris devote time to en route are playing cards, and starting impromptu and incongruous Antakshri sessions, where half the people sound like croaking frogs.
I was prepared for a similar experience when traveling to Jaipur this time around, but am glad to say that the corpulent Marwari populace seems to have stayed at home. The journey on the whole was peaceful (spent most of my time reading Treasure Island), and was punctuated with a few amusing incidents which I shall next narrate.
The principal cause of the amusement was a young boy who kept pestering (though in a friendly, innocent way) his elder sister. For example once the sister expressed her desire to get some sleep, and wanted to bring down the middle berth. But her brother would have none of it, and insisted that she trek up to the top berth, knowing only to well that she was too scared to do so. And thus proceeded a hilarious session where he demonstrated three different techniques in which she could climb up. She reluctantly tried each one of them, but could not proceed beyond the first step at any attempt. What was even more amusing was the assistance offered by one of their friends – a curly haired young girl whom everyone referred to as ‘Bag wali Aunty’. She spent most of her two days on the train tightly clutching her shiny new handbag, which we would learn later, contained a comb and a wad of paper soap strips. Every now and then she would seat herself comfortably in a corner, pull out the strips, and would anxiously count them to make sure none were missing.
Also comical were the ways in which the young boy ‘cheated’ at cards. Whenever he sensed that he was going to be on the receiving end of a game, he would suddenly fall over and drop all his cards in the common heap, pretending it was an accident. Looking into neighbor’s cards was no crime for him, and playing was exciting until he began to lose a few hands.
One of my fellow commuters turned out to be the vocalist for a fledgling Bangalore rock band. He had brought his guitar along with him and would occasionally fish it out and strum a few chords while singing popular numbers. He was quite talented with the guitar and possessed a good voice as well. I got talking with him and in due course he handed me the lyrics of his latest song that he was working on. It spoke of dreams that the singer was having, and which he wanted to turn into reality. He sang to me this partially completed song, and I would say for an own composition it had a great sound to it. Then came the question from him that I was dreading - “Can you guess what this song is about?”
I was sure that most likely one of us would end up looking like a fool. Knowing that I was treading on slippery ground, I tried to give an erudite reply – “I think its about an ambition you have, a someone that you would like to be, and your quest in turning this aspiration into reality.” He looked disappointed with my reply. “It’s about my girl friend,” he said. “I haven’t seen her in six months, and am going to Jaipur to meet her.” I gave an understanding nod, and silently turned back to the charms of Treasure Island.
The journey ended without fuss, and I thanks to my slow reading speed have still not finished my book. I hope my luck with Marwari travel mates holds on the return leg too. I really don’t miss the feeling of squished fruit under my feet!
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Their genuine, uninhibited smiles and reaction really warms the heart! I took this snap during a field trip from my company to a village near Kolar. This photo is my entry to the Faces theme of the weekly Bangalore shutter bugs contest. After posting this I got the idea to instead submit a macro of a Rubik's cube, in all the splendour of it's multicoloured faces. Unfortunately, found it hard to lay my hands on one at this time of the year.
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