Mumbai: Rikshaw and Taxi signs
A classic is "BeautyFull Wife, DangerFull Life" - a hilarious sign stuck at the back of a rik in Mumbai. I just about managed to take a pic in the fast moving traffic:
I like the way its been written too, they've chosen a free font reminiscent of old horror movies.
This is a more typical one since its inspired by a popular Bollywood movie called "Singh is King." Its also possible that this is being used to show off the Sikh identity of the driver, since the movie popularizes a Sikh hero. But its also worth mentioning that there was some controversy about the movie. Some parts of the Sikh community felt that the movie "ridiculed" them instead of glorifying them.
The symbol used here is from the one used in the Nishan Sahib, the flag of the Sikhs. This proves that together the combination of flag symbol and movie title is being used to claim a proud Sikh identity.
The free font used here is a typical choice: decorative and gothic, almost reminds me of blackletter Fette Fraktur.
Fake Sprite Bottles: Which one's real?
We were eating at a roadside restaurant near Mohammad Ali road, the best place to get awesome kababs, meat rolls, etc. All of us ordered Sprite to drink because plain water, even bottled, could be a bit risky in that area. Five minutes into the meal, we notice that each bottle has a different font, with a different Sprite logo:
For those that didn't see it the first time, here's a more focussed look - notice the "p's" and the lemons. I love noticing this stuff, and freaking people out. lol.
I mean, if this isn't Sprite, what is it?
Looked on the net for the actual thing (as far as I can discern). Check out the main differences between the four found bottles, and the one below:
1. The lemon is squashed in the first two, is absolutely redrawn in the fourth
2. The "trademark.." text below the logo is absent in all four
3. The p is drawn differently in all of them.
[Image via www.pbase.com]
Not at all surprising was the fact that it didn't taste different at all, whoever was making the stuff, and running their tiny business somewhere in Mumbai; at least made sure that it tasted pretty much the same.
Found Art: Entrance/Door
There are a lot of old Tamil and French houses in Pondicherry. Some of the houses have an interesting fusion of Tamil and french architecture. For example, one house I had lived in for about two weeks when I first landed up in Pondy has a ground floor in Tamil style, with a large central courtyard et al, and the first floor in French style with a ballroom to entertain French guests. It was owned by an Indian beurocrat in the days when Pondy was a French Colony. A lot of these houses are in the prime areas right next to the beach. They are taken up and redone as guesthouses and cafe's and restaurants, and they flourish because of all the tourists coming in, or at least, I think they flourish. Anyway, this is a photograph of one such place. This beautiful house has been bought up by a kitchen company!
It was weird, we were walking by and from the outside, we thought it was probably a cafe so we walked in. Instead, its been converted into a store to sell kitchen appliances. It was strange and uncomfortable for some reason, the mismatch between the old house and the commercial kitchen company.
Detail: A beautiful door knob at the entrance -
Tamil and French Fusion Architecture
I lived all alone in this old Tamil house for about two weeks while I was looking out for an apartment. Everyone told me it was haunted and all that, but I didn't have any scary experiences (what a surprise ^_^). The house itself was old, old and beautiful. The current owner told me an interesting story about the house. Less than a hundred years ago it was owned by a hi-flying Tamil bureaucrat when Pondicherry was still a French Colony. According to an old cook who has worked in the house for more than sixty years, the name of the previous owner was Ramaswami Chettiyar, his daughters name was Rani and his wife's name was Maragadham. He built the ground floor in traditional Tamil style, with a courtyard and everything, while the first floor is built in French style, with chandeliers, high ceilings and a huge ballroom to entertain French guests. I lived on the first floor, but most of the rooms were closed off. Large parts of the house have been broken down over time to give space for roads and neighbours, only the smaller parts of it remain, and even those are badly maintained. That's probably why some people find it scary.
My favourite part of the place; The bathroom door is completely stained glass:
Detail of the giant mirrors on both sides of the drawing room.
The stained glass windows really add to the overall effect, and conflict nicely with the traditional, and brightly painted carved wood and absence of glass on the ground floor:
Only some of painted details remain, but these wooden columns were completely painted before falling into disrepair. Unfortunately, this part of the house has also not been maintained.
Here you can see an area where the bright colours are still visible and not completely faded:
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Quick Gun Murugan - Movie Review
Director: Shashanka Ghosh | Writer: Rajesh Devraj *
Okay, I've already heard many people say that the movie is not worth watching, and I completely disagree. That's what pushed me to write the review. Apparently, the movie has got a couple of bad reviews in the newspapers, I have no idea why, most of the time lots of terribly bad movies get good reviews, especially in TOI.
Quick Gun Murugan is Classic Slapstick Humour. It's well done, not too sexist, it has low brow and high brow cross-references and original, entertaining cultural references. Frankly, what more do you need in a light movie? A spoof of Tamil cinema, the movie reminds me of one of my all-time favourites, Kung Fu Hustle.
You're guaranteed to leave the theatre in a good mood, smiling: It's not too long either.
The theatre I went to in Chennai was not packed because it was a Sunday morning show, but almost everyone in the audience was in splits the entire time.
A warning note: It doesn't make sense to expect too much (its not THAT great), since its still rough at the edges, and not as polished as it could have been. And the reason I'm raving about it is the dearth of such movies in Indian cinema. As a film buff I still expect better.
Image via www.media.photobucket.com
The villain - Rice Plate Reddy:
Image via strawdogs.files.wordpress.com
The vamp/heroin Rambha:
Image via whatslatest.com
So you've seen some of the excellent and colourful cast, although I couldnt find a picture of one of my favourite villain characters - Rowdy MBA Rascal - I loved the insane amounts of case-taking of MBA's!!
Finally a found a pic of Rowdy MBA The Side Kick Villain:
Image via nowrunning.com
The wiki tells us of the origin of the main character Quick Gun, who started off as a television promo on Channel [V] making phrases such as "Mind it" and "We are like this only" part of an iconic cultural identity. Quick Gun has come a long way from there.
Interestingly, the movie is in English, but it breaks into Tamil or Hindi whenever translation is not possible. In this way, even if it's in English, you never lose the Indian flavour at all. For example,
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
during a love song, he is singing in English and it sounds really ridiculous and funny, and then he switched to Tamil naturally, which is even funnier due to the subtitles that then appear, translating everything literally! This part was tricky, but well executed. Even the trilingual scenes in Mumbai, with English, Tamil and Hindi, switching from one language to another is handled naturally.
So indulge your light hearted side and watch this movie, and remember -
WE ARE LIKE THIS ONLY!
^_^
Lucknow Food: Paan and Kulfi
The meal is important, but the right way to end your large satisfying meal in Lucknow is vital. You could do paan, or kulfi, or both, depending on how much you can consume. The paan is good, of course, paan is usually good in most parts of India, but what was special here was the beautiful way it was decorated and the cost (cheap compared to Mumbai). Though I only had the sweet paan with supari, not the bitter ones that some people prefer. I can't chew tobacco - *yech*
Kulfi! Our taxi driver recommended this place, which was really hard to find, so I can't really give directions, but I can say with confidence that its walking distance from the famous Tundey Kababi.
The sign below says Full Box - 40Rs, Half Box - 20 Rs:
The famous kulfi place uses small round tins to serve the Kulfi, which are then washed and re-used when a new batch is set. This is a photograph of the tins getting collected before being sent off for refilling:
Lucknow Food: Tundai Kababs and Dastarkhwan
I visited Lucknow some time back and had the most awesome food experience, I ate The Original Tundei Kababs, and the best chicken and mutton with parathas EVER in my entire life * sigh * - anyway if you're a foodie the foll. places are a must if you happen to be in Lucknow. These are pictures of Tundei Kababi, the place to get yummy kababs that really melt in your mouth. The original Tundei Kababs are beef, so if you don't eat beef you're really missing out.
If you want take away (and most people do), they are packed in these tiny pink mithai boxes:
Here are some of their famous parathas, they compliment the kababs well:
A framed photograph of Haji Murad Ali (Tundey Kababi), who used to feed the nawabs in the old days of Lucknow. This can be seen from inside the small canteen that they have. You can sit and eat here, its quite decent, with families coming in and out. It says - "1877-1967, Serving Awadhi Cuisine Since 1897".
Dastarkhwan is easy to reach since its kind of a landmark in Lucknow. Its on a small street full of similar road side restaurants that serve the same cuisine. Here it is says "Dastarkhwan Mughlai cuisine, Rich in taste Good in values."
Heres a pic of the street, with all the other roadside places. It wasn't too crowded at this time, but it picked up later on.
Abandoned Theatre: Naaz Cinema
In the heart of old city in Lucknow, an abandoned theater called Naaz Cinema lies in ruins. Now the surrounding area is used as a car park. Here are some pictures I managed to take:
If any of you can read Hindi, you may be able to read the faded sign in the photo below which says Naaz Cinema parking, has the prices for Cycle parking (3 Rs), something faded which is probably scooter parking (5 Rs), and rikshaw (4 Rs). The little window on the right was probably the ticket window.
Haunted Railway Station
A haunted railway station in West Bengal, Begunkodor has been re-opened after 42 yrs according to the BBC. It is believed to be haunted by a dancing woman in a white saree, and the last person who saw her died within a few days of the infamous sighting. Rumours say she is seen dancing on the railway tracks and platform, and that she was probably killed on the tracks itself by a passing train.
Image via www.telegraphindia.com
Image via cache.daylife.com
Photo credit: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
Is the Internet a Democracy?
Over time any social community would naturally evolve towards a preferred type of organization. The internet, like any community, is evolving too. Is it evolving towards a democracy? In the beginning of course it was filled with technical people (geeks in other words), and to some extent it is still dominated by techical experts - designers, web developers, and scientists. But as the internet opened up to regular people, its getting full of people who just blog about their everyday life, photos, family, in short it maybe boring stuff, but the point is that they are doing whatever they want.
I was reading an article the other day about a new book The Myth of Digital Democracy:
It "...reveals that, contrary to popular belief, the Internet has done little to broaden political discourse but in fact empowers a small set of elites--some new, but most familiar."
This got me thinking about the whole domination and hype about western politics on the internet - especially that of US and UK. In fact if you look at the top 10 Technorati blogs, arranged by authority, the first is by a journalist who I have never heard of, who mainly blogs about US politics. This is of course of no relevance to me. Although I was briefly interested in Obama's run to victory, I'm hardly as interested in him as the average American may be.
Secondly, techie blogs are obviously on the top (they reflect the majority of geek internet users and their interests). Back to the Technorati top 10 we see MANY of them - TechCrunch, Mashable, EnGadget, The Official Google Blog, and Arts Technica. I mean, I was surprised to see that almost all of the top ten blogs are techie blogs. Shit, I like reading that stuff too, but how BORING has the internet become? Is this what people do on the internet all the time?
Anyway, we come to porn, obviously. The amount of porn on the internet is amazing and at the same time, natural. Due to the insane amounts of male porn, the patriarchy of the internet can never be questioned. Here I am trying to download a movie and my poor brain is bombarded with images of women with huge breasts in various positions - banner ads. I have trained myself not to see them, but I despise it, and now I stick to websites which dont have the stuff, although you cant really avoid it all the time.
And then, Social Networks. This is one of the best things about internet. They say that although you regularly facebook/orkut only a handful of people, like about 5 or 6, just like calling by the way, it helps strengthen your social ties. When your boss etc. try to block facebook or chat, they are actually isolating you in a way that a 50's factory worker was isolated from their family and friends without a mobile phone and internet. The internet has in a way, helped democratize intimacy. Great!
[But I can't help but think that although mobiles have democratized communication in India, even at factory worker level to some extent, internet is relatively nowhere right now.]
Now for a round-up: We've covered 1. Too much american politics, 2. Techi Elitism, 3. Too much porn, and 4. Awesome social networks. My conclusion would be, despite all the boring techie stuff and american politics, and elitism, the internet is by far more democratic than any other democracy. Although they may be hard to find, there are several blogs like gems, web comics, art, and thousands of e-books, - thats what I call a democracy of entertainment - the internet.
Lucknow: Photo Essay
A beautiful woman poses with her baby while I was walking through the streets of Lucknow.
Lucknow Market:
Wedding processions such as these usually happen during the late evening:
Rolls of red cloth, mattresses and chairs being collected, part of the wedding preparations:
Cycle Rickshaw's:
I was amazed by Mayawati's megalomania, she has started building several massive statues and structures of herself all over Lucknow, especially when you just drive in. There are also going to be statues of Kanshi Ram, her guru. The taxi driver told us there would be rows of elephants built on either side of the road since the elephant is a symbol of her party, the BSP.
This is a picture of one such monument being built. I don't know if the scale is clear here, we couldn't stop since it was a highway. Anyway, its a huge thing with domes, with a large park area, one main structure, and several smaller structures being built around it to honour not only herself but also her guru.
Interestingly, the same taxi driver pointed out that she could use the lakhs of rupees on something useful like building factories and generating employment instead of frivolous stuff like statues of herself. I was impressed, and reminded of the hard fact that somebody like the taxi driver I was talking to was more involved in politics than me, and was perfectly capable of seeing Mayawati as she was, practically. I think this hints that she may not go further than CM of UP (hopefully).
Rai's Competition Center (photo below): Its strange, I have never seen anything like this in any of the metro cities, one of the signs says "Kanpur Private BA Gram Panchayat" - What does this mean??
The other sign says "22 law q" - I'm guessing this place sells books and tips on how to pass the various exams listed on the main yellow and red signboard: Railway (government job), SSC (10th grade), Bank (some bank exam?), IAS-PCS (government exam again), Medical (which exam is not mentioned), B.Ed (Teacher?), LL.B (Law), CDS, NDA (Army), and Engineering. What's interesting is the way all these exams and more are just listed randomly, a dhobi list totally.
Subash Chandra Bose is still alive: Conspiracy Theory
One of the most famous freedom fighters from India, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had an extremely mysterious death. Its a well-known conspiracy theory or should I say theories. Many people believe that he's not really dead, and that he's still alive even though he would probably be a 110 yrs old. Wiki says there was no plane crash and therefore his ashes are not really his ashes, since they were never recovered. I always believed the plane crash story, that's what we were taught in school and that's what was printed in my school history books. This is definitely not true though. The Taiwanese government has said that there have been no plane crashes in the area from the "14 August and 20 September 1945", and the same was authenticated by the US government.
Since the crash didn't happen, we're left with a wide range of possibilities:
1.) Murdered by a political enemy
2.) He escaped to/landed up in Soviet Russia and was then imprisoned in Siberia prison where he eventually died.
3.) Information on how he died has been covered up by the Congress government since it is damaging to them. This is why they denied the report by the Mukherjee Commission which states that he did not die in a plane crash.
- Some people believe that Nehru had him killed/exiled since he knew that if Netaji returned to India after his successful attempts at building armies and garnering support abroad, he would take over as PM, therefore sidelining Nehru.
4.) There are stories and rumours that he became a sadhu and returned to die an old man in India itself.
Where was he going when he died?
The wiki itself is contradictory it says:
"Officially, Bose died in a plane crash over Taiwan, while flying to Tokyo on 18 August 1945. It is believed that he was on route to the Soviet Union in a Japanese plane when it crashed in Taiwan, burning him fatally."
So it is not clear whether he was flying to the Soviet Union or Japan when he disappeared. Several of his die-hard fans will argue that even today he is still alive in some form or another, and that he can't really "die".
We Only Play Electronica
Recently I went to a beach party at a resort near Pondicherry. I was having a good time, the crowd was good (no stags allowed so no lecherous men), and the music was good. The party lasted till 5 in the morning, with about 200 people on the dance floor. But one particular event really pissed me off. So here we were enjoying the music, and I suddenly felt like a Michael Jackson song. Although I'm not a die-hard fan, I'm still a fan and who doesn't enjoy a good MJ song? Anyway so here I am making my way up to the DJ (there were 3 of them) and I politely make a request for a MJ song. And what is the answer I get?
"We only play Electronica"
Fuck - how can you be so stuck up? I mean, MJ is MJ, and the DJ went on to snootily tell me that he doesnt have even ONE Michael Jackson song in his system. Am I supposed to believe that? Here I was enjoying their music since eleven in the night, and they refuse to play even one simple request. The worst thing is that I couldn't think of a suitably rude and witty remark to tell the little fucker off.
*
Indian slang: Use of the word 'cool'
Lately I've been obsessing about the usage of English by urban Indians. We have definitely evolved the language to fit into our culture, and added words wherever required. "vaat" is a good example, and "jugaad" is another. As far as I know, different regions have their own slang. Living in Pondicherry I'm learning my very own tamil-english slang ^_^ Till now I know that "chinna" means little, so you would say "chinna coke" to order the small bottle. Its easy to pick up, and I hadn't even realized I've picked up so much of the slang.
A word that I feel is common is "cool" - clearly an English word, does the meaning of "cool" change in India? Does the context of our culture give it an additional/different meaning? In America, "Obama" recently became synonimous with "cool." This was quite amazing to me since nothing in politics can ever be considered cool to urban Indian youth. Words that come to mind are corrupt, futile, etc.
So what is cool in India?
Whenever I hit ambiguous roadblocks like this, wikipedia is usually the answer, and they have this to say:
"Cool is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style, influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning."
I like the use of the word aesthetic here, because it accurately describes what cool is. Its an attitude, a behavior, an aspiration that so many people (and corporations) strive towards. When you say something is cool, you mean its good, its a positive thing, something that is not just good, but unique and different.
Another way to get at the root of "cool" is to look at what is "uncool." Uncool is when your really sad, pathetic, corrupt, criminal, caught doing something totally against the social norms of your circle (depends on the crowd since in some situations you could be cool doing things that are rebellious/unexpected.)
So in the end I can conclude that cool is definitely good, nothing to do with politics ever, at times rebellious and invidividual and different and subjective. ^_^
Couldn't really find any credible dictionaries of Indian slang (too many errors in most of them) - let me know if any of you have seen any. This looked like the best one but its totally incomplete.
Large Oil Slicks on Manori Beach
I had visited Manori Beach near Mumbai a couple of months ago and was totally horrified and dissapointed by the polluted beach. Here are a few images of the condition of the beach at that time:
A friend of mine investigates the oil slick (ewww):
weird sign in a hotel bathroom
I found this sign in a hotel near Mumbai while travelling. It instructs users how to use the geysor and in itself is quite scary since it implies you will get an electric shock quite easily from it. However the second point is most interesting: "Children please wait for a while till you are of age"
Totally describes the impatience of youth, waiting to get older until you are of age to.....use the hot water geysor?? :P
Secret Beach
A beach we visited about 3 km from Pondy, known only by the locals. An absolute gem ^_^
A raft, probably used by fishermen.
We found a closed down cafe off the beach, here a picture of some of us crossing the broken down bridge to go to the cafe on the other side:
A little shack we found on the other side. It sheltered a tethered raft, so that's where we took a break.
Hotel Golden Gate
A photograph of the entrance of hotel golden gate, a small restaurant near the highway outside Pondicherry. It was closed when we passed by.
Pichavaram Mangrove Forest
This is a photograph from inside Pichavaram, the second largest mangrove forest in the world. Its about two hours drive from Pondicherry. You can hire a rowboat and explore the dark mangroves, and even spend a day on the nearbye untouched beaches.
The mangroves from a distance, they look deceptively short and shrub-like.
Babuji Kodak Wala
I came across this tiny old store in Pondy the other day, full of signs, stickers, ancient photographs, and random(?) posters. This sign was really hilarious "No Kindly Don't Ask Wedding Negatives Yours Babuji" ^_^
And sorry about the below par pics and terrible stitching, the more I post the better I'll get :P
This is the entrance to the store:
Another sign says "Video Orders cannot be cancelled", and the cancellation charge is scratched out ^_^
The old camera in the picture below (left hand side) made us realize that the store is very old, probably from French Colonial times, but we couldn't meet the owner to verify the facts. I'll update the post as soon as I know.
Another detail, its really like Found Art. Notice the photograph from 1981 framed on the wall. It says "Beauty of 1981."
A lot of stores in India have some sign or the other advising against buying on "credit," this was quite an original print that was put up on the cupboard. There is a notice in tamil also, but I can't read it :(
Many of these posters were up, advice and moral lessons etc (the typical):
