You gets what you pays for, my dear.

Woman walking in Pashan, Pune.

Street side vendor

Push starting a three wheeled pickup. Pashan, Pune.

Woman climbing Sinhagad.  Sinhagad, Pune. Man on curb. Pune.

I finally got around  to purchasing a real sable brush.  They are expensive. Made from the hair of the Siberian Kolinsky Sable, ( a type of a weasel), this brush cost me 27 Euros( about 37 USD).  Size 8. A mid sized brush.  Good watercolor brushes are characterized by three things.  Firstly, their "Snap", ie the ability of the loaded brush to regain its pointed shape after applying paint to paper.  So if you dabbed paint on a spot , it should immediately go back to its pointed shape ready to apply paint precisely at another place.
Second, its "Belly".  The ability to hold water or paint so you can paint continuously without recharging it.    The fatter the belly while still holding a point is desirable.  Thirdly, "Point",the ability of the bristles to come to a needle point when you load up the brush with paint. You should be able to paint a hairline and with just some added pressure increase the width to about an inch ( on a Number 8 brush) and  on releasing the pressure spring back to the hairline.   A varied thickness of a brush stroke is very useful while painting.
My new brush does  this all exceptionally well.  I hope I don't screw  it up by being sloppy in its care.

All drawings above from memory.

Lucky Pig?

Pune Airport lounge.

Refuel stop. Bucharestu, Romania.

I recently remembered a person from a workshop on campus at Georgia Tech.  He was very good at fabricating metal components useful in our projects.  Big guy.  He used to have a pencil-thick scar across the width of his neck. He told me he got it in a knife fight in a bar.  I always half believed him.  He had a hobby. He used to collect statues and things shaped like hogs and pigs.  It was quite a fantastic collection.  Piggy banks. Mugs shaped like a hog.  Metal statues. Wild Georgia hogs.  Bristly, large with huge canines.   

The reason I remembered him was I recently bought a little “Lucky three legged Pig”.  Made from terracotta ( “Mud”).  Cute as hell.  From Chile. "Chanchito".

As large and old as India is, I have never come across anything that depicts pigs as lucky or cute and lovable.  One avatar of Vishnu is the “Varaha”. A wild boar.  Ferocious and terrible.   In general pigs are viewed as unclean animals, much like the middle east views them.  Both Judaism and Islam prohibit followers from eating pork.   I wonder what the Chinese think of them.  They are an important part of their cuisine.  Food for thought aye? 

Homer Simpson on pigs:

Lisa: “I’m going to become a vegetarian”

Homer: “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?”

L:“Yes”

H: “Bacon?”

L: “Yes Dad”

H: “ Ham?”

L: “Dad all those meats come from the same animal”

H: “Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”

Half and half

Ganesh display off Sus road. Pashan, Pune.

This is a very large display that has been set up during the ongoing Ganesh Festival. It is a stage with a ten foot high Ganesh in front of a half football field sized ground. The orange stairs lead devotees onto the stage where they pay homage.

I had parked to draw it and this small machine shop made of corrugated tin was an interesting foredrop. The guy was building a cabinet with L angled mild steel beams. 

A summit experience

Panel Discussion

Featured speakers

Doom and gloom. Call from HQ?

Security guard and doorman

Not all panelists showed up.  

Concierge and waitress in the lobby

I was in Mumbai for a “Summit”.  I had been there last year as well. Here is the post from back then. Perhaps the best way to kick off a conference is not with a depressing story. The Emcee started off with:  ”One of our delegates told me today that he may not have his job when he gets back to work on Monday”.

 

Well, it was doom and gloom in the Learning and Development sector of Indian IT /IT ES.  I provided my support by drawing in my little notebook as serious discussions about “Investments in Imagination”, “Human Capital”, “Bharat and India: It’s not the same India for all!” etc . raged. OK, not quite “raged”.  More like diffident non-committal declarations upon persistent prodding by the panel leaders:

PL: “Come on <> you surely have an opinon”,

Panelist: “Yes, yes.”

PL: “You must say it!”

Panelist: “Yeah, I suppose…*mumble*”

PL: “There you go folks, <> will now tell us his experience from the helm of<< Name of a super multinational>>”  Hands the microphone firmly to the panelist.

Cornered Panelist: “It’s a demand and supply situation. When in doubt go to the basics. It’s not “One size” fits all.  The situation on the ground is always different and we must assess it before we make strategic commitments in this recession prone economy.”

Thrusts the hot potato microphone back at PL and gulps water. 

I did learn a new term.   Apparently, Indian youth suffer from a severe ‘Intent Deficit”.  Turns out, it means that they don’t know why the hell they are working.

It appears that corporations in India regularly ask their youthful employees if they know why they are working.  And their employees aren’t giving answers the corporations want to hear.

I couldn’t take it after that.  I had to duck out and laugh into the delicious orange & poppy cupcakes served with black coffee outside in the lobby. God bless our youth!

Dont speak...

Ambazari Lake Nagpur.

Cafe Coffe Day, Rajeev Chowk Metro Station, New Delhi.

...I know just what you're saying

So please stop explaining 

Don't tell me cause it hurts 

Don't speak 

I know what you're thinking 

I don't need your reasons 

Don't tell me cause it hurts."  No Doubt.

That song does not really describe my feelings about having to type stuff on this post. It's late and I have to go to Mumbai early ( wake up at 3:30 am).  This song came to me and I have posted it. Oh well.

Gwen. Only you know what I'm thinking. 

All my Gods have clay feet

Terminal 3 , Delhi International Airport

Lohegaon Airport, Pune.

Back from New Delhi/Guragon this morning.  All the talk in business is about the weakening Indian Rupee. Distressing but boring after the twentieth time.

This week has been stressful.  Lots of stuff happening.  This travel also added to it.

Paper Planes:  MIA

" I fly like paper get high like planes."

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

Shatabdi Express, Pune Secunderabad. August 25, 2013

Looking north, on a west- east bound train.

I went to Hyderabad (Secunderabad is a sister city) last weekend by train.  Left early Saturday, ran the full, 42.2 km Airtel 2013 Hyderabad marathon on Sunday morning and returned the same day.  Quite exhausting.  I did not do as well as I wanted.  I went too fast initially and had severe cramps in the 29th Km and had to walk/limp the rest of the 13 km to finish in 5 hours 39 minutes. But finished all the same.  The depressing split stats and ranking can be found here. Bib Number is 1289. Male. Category :Overall.

The lines and coloring on the drawing is shaky because of the rocking of the train.  The watercolor landscapes are glimpses of the freshly monsooned countryside sliding past.  Beautiful.

Fisher of souls

Ambazari Lake, Nagpur, India. August 18 2013.

I have  been fishing a few times. Caught a fish once.  I enjoyed the trip but not so much the flopping around  of the fish.  But then I did eat it later.  Oh well.
The one thing that stuck in my head from the instructions from my friend and boss who had taken us fishing was that don't fidget with the line once its cast.  Let the line sit and watch the float.  Patiently.  I am not very patient. I  moved the hook around if nothing happened after five minutes. Later I saw a kid amongst these fishermen catch a fish.  He did follow those rules. He cast the hook and then set the rod down by his side. Hugged his knees and squatted as he watched the float for any signs of bobbing. All of a sudden he grabbed the rod and reeled in a fish.  

Beginning our final descent

Lohogaon Airport, Pune.  Dighi Hills in the back.

I am a big fan of aviation.  It's an amazing engineering accomplishment and unfortunately it is now taken for granted.  Like metallurgy even.  I attended a wedding in Nagpur last weekend. An hour long flight in an Airbus 320.   I drew this charter taxing out with the Dighi Hills of Pune in the background.
'Check-list Manifesto" is a great book by Dr Atul Gawande.  He is a surgeon at Mass Gen (?).  He writes  about the importance of check-lists and learnt of their effective use especially in the aerospace industry. (Amongst other things.  For instance, he writes how the rock band Van Halen used them to manage the enormous logistics of their '80s concerts so their fans had a safe and satisfying experience. They used to include a line item like "Jelly bean bowl backstage with no purple beans".  If the bowl wasn't there they knew that perhaps the check-list wasn't being carefully followed.).
I mention this because of the high volume of flights being handled by airports in India all of sudden in the last five years. I often worry about safety standards.  I saw a ground crew member filling in a check-list mechanically in the gangway when I boarded my flight.  He was filling in a logbook and initialling every line item. En masse. One benefit of a check-list  is when we perform routine sequential actions. Its important to check off the action as soon as it is performed.   This reduces the possibility of  human error in remembering the action and the sequence. Obviously here he had done what he had to, and was now logging the actions afterwards.

Maybe I just worry too much.  He probably was checking off a list of beverages that were loaded.

Right there in black and white

Funeral procession.  Pashan. Pune.

Sugarcane juice stall. Baner, Pune.

Couple in rain, Baner-Sus Road. Pune 

I had planned to do this.  Draw scenes of life in the neighbourhood where I live, from memory, like a visual diary.  I drive a very short distance through Pashan village to my work place on Baner Road. I get to see a lot of village life everyday to and from work. The village is quite "villagey'.  Pashan sits amid all the boom in construction as urban Pune threatens to swallow it.  Kids run around barefoot.  Goats, chicken, and dogs roam freely. At the appointed bathing hour, a herd of water buffalo block my road to work as they lazily wander from the river to their dairy.  I take photographs sometimes but I really had hoped I would be able to draw from life that will very soon be gone. I have been teaching myself figurative drawing and other technical aspects.  Drawing from memory is a lot of fun but frustrating when you cant really construct the scene as you see it in your minds eye.  Hope you like them.

Short story: My father on his way to bed recalled a story from his childhood. He and some others in their childhood used to tease his mother ( "JiJi") that her father used to peddle hooch.  It so happened, the land her father had given on her marriage to my grandfather ( Dowry you think? Of course!) had a number of 'Mahua' trees.(Madhuca Longifolia) These trees bear a sweet and fragrant flower ( and a fruit) that is fermented to brew 'Country liquor'. Jiji's father used to auction off the flowers and fruits of the Mahua trees to manufacturers of country liquor. Hence the young scamps, my father included, would tease their matronly mother.  Well, I had to write it down.  So I did that here.

Pointing fingers at everyone

Off Laxmi Road, Pune

The Indian Parliaments House of Commons ( Loksabha) will come up for elections soon.    India is the worlds largest democracy. It also has a very diverse population. 16 odd official languages. 44 odd dialects.  At least five major religions. ( Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Judaism.).  In the last fifteen years at least 5 additional states have been created from the original 24 (!?).

Multiple poliical parties exist.  The top two currently are the BJP and the Congress.  The current Govt Of India is ruled by a majority of the Congress party.  The Congress parties last five years have been marked primarily by huge corruption scandals.  The BJP, that used to be in power before, is ideologically linked to Hindu fundamentalists.  India will go to the polls soon.

So....I had an interesting visit by two middle aged ladies this Sunday afternoon.   They told me they were taking a public poll.  They mentioned a electoral roll.   Asked if I was a registered voter ( I am) and then asked me to answer questions about using the internet to cast my vote.   Turns out they work for  a marketing agency.  They then asked me some perfunctory questions about my internet use and inclination to use the internet for elections.  Rather cunningly, the questions then turned course towards asking me for my facebook ID, my email, inclination to get political information via email etc.  Of course I did not give them any details.  The next set of questions asked me to list "Political issues" based on my concerns.  eg. "Corruption", "Access to education" , "Infrastructure" etc. Then a variety of questions about religious preferences etc.  I bluntly told them I was done answering any more questions about my political views or religious.  They were quite nice  about it. They said they come to our neighbourhood often. Wished me and left.   Looks like Indian politics is learning fast from the west. And with resources to spare, as India gets more affluent, such relatively sophisticated means of getting information and selling it to political parties seem to be on  the rise.   

Born under a bad sign

Shop across from Tambdi Jogeshwari Ganesh Temple, AB Chowk ,Pune

This is in the old city of Pune. The stone pillar is a "Deep Stambh" or a Light Pillar.  Lamps would be lit in the curved arms along its height.  Made from native basalt rock probably 50-100 years ago, several remain around the city. I have drawn one in the past as well.   This is across from a famous Ganesh Temple in Appa Balwant Chowk. ABC.

It's a busy street corner as well. The old curved shop caught my eye as well.  So I squeezed into a cranny by the entrance to the temple and drew.  Several people stopped by on their way. Almost as usual, one person said something  that was strange and creepy.
The sketchbook I use is oblong. It opens lengthwise and its spine is on the short side.. I am right handed so I prefer to rest the right half on a flat surface and draw.  The long left half is propped up on my left and doesn't get in the way.  Basically, I always draw on the right half. And stingy that I am, I use every damn page including ones facing each other.  That means I rotate the book so that  I always draw on the right half of the book. Makes sense? Probably not. In any case, it turns out that if you open the sketchbook the  drawing on the left is upside down and on the right half is right way up.
Long story short, according to this concerned nutcase citizen of Pune this is not a good thing.  NEVER WRITE OR DRAW ON FACING PAGES UPSIDE DOWN! This was explained to me in a creepy way that was half pitying me in tone and half coaxing like you would coax the  devil to leave the possessed.  The man asked me to reconsider the way I drew.  Sleep on it. He said.  Ponder what I was doing in a quiet moment of meditation. All this in Marathi, the local language. Low tones. Six inches from my face. He left saying that all he could do was suggest the right path.  My life was mine. But bad luck was everyones (!).  He was only working in his "Circle of influence" ( RIP Steven Covey!).  Lot of head wagging.
After he left, I thought up many many smart and witty retorts. My fantasy ended with me changing his life with the debunking of many superstitions that cloud the minds of his kind in this post medieval part of Pune.  But in real life I was squirming and getting really pissed off. Jackass. 

Fire ants in my sandals

Bottle of water and a bag for the pilgrimage

All the women seem to carry their bags on top of their head

He is playing brass cymbals, chanting as he walks barefoot

Flag bearer of his group( possibly all from one village)

Today, while clearing out some undergrowth in a garden, I stepped on a nest of red fire ants.  They really sting. I had forgotten how it felt.  They really put their heart into it when they bite with their pincers.  Their heads separated from their bodies when I tried to get them off.

I have drawn these from reference photographs I took of a pilgrimage that passes through my city of Pune. About 200,000 people walking in a procession.  It usually occurs around end of June/ mid July. Its a particular day of the Hindu Lunar Calendar.
These people belong to a sect called the "Varkaris".  They have a simple belief removed from the orthodoxy of Hinduism and follow the teachings of two main saints of the Bhakti movement( Bhakti = Devotion/faith Vs. rituals and formalized religion), Tukaram and Dhyaneshwar ( pronounced Nya- neshwar :)).

Wikipedia has some more on this movement.

They are predominantly rural people.  I was thinking of drawing people and these are unique and interesting visually.  I have referenced my own photos.  I'll possibly do some groups as well since this pilgrimage is known by its large numbers of people walking hundreds of miles together.
Here are two photographs to show you the scale of the people moving.  This is at an intersection where I took some pictures as they passed.  This procession took about 6 hours to go by.

The Varkaris going past spectators

One group that paused to ease congestion downstream

Its a pale resemblance

From Baner Hill, Looking west.

Biodiversity park. Reforestation planting on Baner hillside. Looking south.

Looking north on Baner Hill

Two things drawing and painting from nature will do for you.

Firstly, instil a sense of humility about nature and hopefully admiration. All the High Dynamic Range processed digital images, graphics, 3D movies, computer games, all pale in comparison.  I cant bring myself to write about it as it seems so silly and obvious and slightly embarrassing. But I am sure there are people who need this reminder. Go stare at a sunset and accompanying skies.  Or an insect in your garden. It's always amazing.

Secondly, it creates an appreciation of the difficulty of drawing and painting from nature.( All representations for that matter, including photography).
As it is, it is hard to do watercolors.  The golden rule, that all great watercolorists follow and excel at, is knowing what to do. With that one brush stroke, lay down a color or shape a form or cast that shadow or perhaps do them all at once! And then to be done with it. No pecking around and fidgeting.  No "do overs".
And its even harder and impossible to capture things you see in nature.  But its always worth the effort however terrible your results may seem. You will LOOK, for once, and see stuff you otherwise miss.

You must attempt it in your life.

Waiting

Kera, a very tiny restaurant that specializes in food from the state of Kerala in India.  Fish Thali.

Linger On, a multi cuisine restaurant.  Lemon grass cooler and pasta lunch.

Tsai Shen Yen, Hong Kong Chinese restaurant. Rice and noodles. Veg Wontons. Coriander soup.

I spend time waiting in restaurants.  Waiting for food to be served, friends, take away...  Then, if no one is watching I draw.

Cardamom tea in tiny glasses

Amrutalya tea shop. Dandekar Bridge , Pune

Amrutalya tea shops are an old institution in Pune.  They are small shops that serve tea in tiny glasses like the one next to my pen and notebook.  The tea is milky, sweet and cardamom flavored. The tea is brewed every hour or so depending on the customers. For a quick sip, they also offer a "cutting chai".  It's half of that tiny glass. It was a slow afternoon.  The owner was sitting and staring out into the street.  Laid back fellow.  Cheerful. He saw me drawing. After a bit he sang a Hindi song from an old movie, " Yeh kaun chitrakar hai?..."("Who is this artist?")  The lyrics describe the musing of a farmer as he surveys the glories of nature and rhetorically wonders about the artist( presumably the Good Lord) that rendered them.  This guy just loved singing that lyric over and over.  And then he would grin at me and go back to staring at the road smiling to himself pleased about remembering the song with a reference to an artist.  I grinned back and kept drawing.

I drank three glasses. He crushed the cardamom for his brew in the brass pestle and mortar on the upper shelf.  The brass teapot and the stainless steel milk urn are typical.  When the place is full of customers he sits crosslegged on the brown seat on the platform. The drawer is where he stashes his money and makes change.  He asked me to come back.

It's the Talkies!

Alka Talkies, Lakdi Pul, Pune.

This is one of the older movie theatres in Pune. Perhaps about 60-70 years old.  I'm not sure if it actually screened silent movies in the past but it just might have.  Movie theatres used to have just one screen.  They were also defined  by the size of the film they could project, "70mm" or "35mm".  I have last seen a movie in this theatre perhaps around 1982.  It has a lower section and a more expensive upper house ("Balcony").  It was not air conditioned back then. Now it probably is. Below the red section was the bicycle parking. Hundreds of bicycles would be stacked in a shed under there. They would give you a small coupon to find your bicycle after the show.  Almost all patrons used bicycles and there may have been a couple of cars and a handful of motorcycles/scooters during each show.
These theatres themselves came to be called "Talkies" based on what they screened.    Even now you can tell a autorikshaw taxi driver to take you to "Alka Talkies". ( Its pronounced "taakies", I didnt realize where the word came from until many years later.). In the intermission of the movie you could buy greasy spicy crunchy samosas. At your seat. Then throw the scrunched up wrapper at the screen if you didnt like what was happening in the movie.  This kind of behaviour was the purview of the cheap non balcony seated rascals. Enviable.

The road not taken.

Joshi (?)Bungalow, BCL Lane, Deccan

I go to the British Council Library on some weekends.  My father is a member. It’s near Deccan Gymkhana.   I was early and walked up the lane next to it to see what lay ahead.  Two apartment buildings were undergoing a facelift.  They will become business hotels.  And in one lot was this crumbling bungalow.  Must be from the early 1940’s or maybe even older.   I sat on a concrete pipe and drew it.  Light drizzle of rain. 

Later at the British Council Library I scored.  They were having a booksale.  Books that have now been worn out and are being withdrawn and some “slow movers”. 

Guess what was moving slow? A Three volume set of Cunninghams Oxford press Manual of Practical Human Anatomy!  A very good anatomy reference for my collection.  I have been trying to learn basic human anatomy to draw figures reasonably accurately.  Vastus Medius is an extensor. Really.  An exciting  moment in my life.

What was worn?  “Secret Knowledge”. A very good quality art book by David Hockney. It’s his thesis that a lot of artists just after the 1500’s started using optics to help them draw.  They would use mirrored lenses to create an image on a paper as reference and then use that as basis of human portraits.  Ingres, Vermeer, are amongst the artists he thinks used such aids.   A very controversial book.  Even I was not sure I wanted to hear that those artists were ‘copying’ .   Buts it’s a good read. And has some really good reproductions of many famous art works.
Also purchased: “History of British Art” ( Blah.). And a good book by Metcalfe about Colonial architecture. It’s interesting reading about many of the old British era buildings one sees in India.    All in all a grand total of INR 450. Or About USD 9.  Amitabh’s a winner.  And the sweet librarian lady now thinks I’m a medical doctor.  

Slippery when wet

Across from "Roopali", Fergusson Road

It's monsoon season!  My cars tires were threadbare. As in, you could actually see the steel belts.   I had been postponing changing them. Finally did it this weekend.  Also changed my wipers.  Somehow, felt I have better grip when I left the service station.  I’m sure it’s all in my mind.  Will go out to the hills for a trek this weekend to celebrate this minor event of monsoon maintenance.

After I gave my car in, I walked around and had breakfast.  Drew this bike against the red shutters.  Got about fifteen minutes before they went up.  And cars parked along the sidewalk.  I painted the drawing at home later.  I took a reference photo.  But the red color in the photo seems really different from what I remembered.

Running and street dogs - II

Deccan Gymkhana Post office. Estd. 1923.

What can you do about street dogs?  

This is the follow up. See Part I.    

This is important. It’s all about body language.  Yours and the dogs.

1.       Barking dogs really don’t bite.  They are warning you off.   They may not even look at you.  Do not stare at them.  But this behavior could change to an attacking one. Be alert. 

2.       If a dog lopes towards you quickly and kind of growls in a low tone with hackles raised, this is bad news.  He/she wants a piece of you.   Stop.  Face and look them in the eye.  Make yourself big by raising and waving your arms. Shout. And walk out of their space slowly.  Don’t kick.

3.       To preempt this, pretend to throw a pebble at them.  They have been pelted so often in India that they will run away by conditioning.

4.       Dogs in packs could be serious trouble.  If you are going past an agitated pack, walk or wait for them to pass.   If one chooses to bark at you, all will follow and then they tend to go into a ‘hunting’ mode.  Pick up stones and hurl to hit. 

I have not been bitten yet.  I have been ‘attacked’ quite a few times though.  While scary, it has a bright side.   When you are in a long run your mind tends to drift.  Work, family, and other thoughts take you away from the run.   A dogs growl brings you in the here and now like nothings else!   All your senses are alert and you are completely in the present moment.   

Like most fears in our life, keep an eye out for dogs but don’t obsess about them.  For the most part ignoring them works.    And, once in a while, they will bite you in the behind.

Running and street dogs- I

Inside Goodluck Cafe

It’s a common sight in most Indian towns.   Free range urban dogs can be seen at garbage bins or moving singly or in packs along most streets.  They are considered a menace and Pune has in the last month recorded an unusually high number of dog bites.

I usually run around 6:30 am through 8:30 am.  It’s too hot after that and the traffic accompanied by pollution from vehicle exhausts also becomes unbearable.  During one 15 km run I had counted about 40- 50 dogs along my route.

Here are some suggestions about running past dogs that seem like they are waiting to chase you down.

First, some behavioral observations and what they mean to you.  I must mention that I like dogs in general.  While I am not defender of the ‘street dogs” (It’s not a great life in any case for them) I am against culling them by poison or other painful means. If you are fearful of dogs you should stay alert and keep a few pebbles handy so you can throw them in the dog’s general direction when you see them.

 Dogs are territorial. It’s important to be aware of what that space maybe.  If the dog seems to belong to the house by the street, or is attached to a group of huts or shanties by the road side, about a meter or two into the road and along the length of their house is what they typically consider their space.  So give in to them and go around.   Dogs around garbage bins are usually scavenging. They don’t really care about you unless you look like competition.   Running close to a feeding dog may generate aggression.  Dogs are also unpredictable and moody. The same dog that barked at you when you went past first may completely ignore you on your way back. Or vice versa. 

What can you do about them?  See Part II.

Tasty but not too spicy?

Nunoz, Bavdhan. Pune

Pune is home to a large number of African and Iranian students who attend Pune University. Pune University is close to where I live, about 4 kms.  Students live nearby.  India always had people from Iran and Africa living and visiting for business and higher studies for many years.  In fact, for the last several hundred years if not a few millennia.  In the recent past, post Indian Independence in 1947, Pune has attracted students for higher education in the arts and sciences.   A number of Iranian restaurants called “Irani Hotel/Cafe”s have been serving bun musca( bun and margarine/butter), bun- omelet, baked beans, black tea with lemon, scrambled goat brains ( yes.),  milk tea and a large variety of snacks and foods for very affordable prices.  ( About eight to ten of us with big appetites  go for breakfast and get fed for about  INR 1000 or 20 USD).  Goodluck  Café is favorite.

But now there is a new breed of Iranian restaurants.  These cater to students from Iran.  Mostly meat dishes not easily available in Indian restarunts.   Beef, Mutton based.   Also not as spicy as Indian food. Chelo Ghosht( Rice and beef), Kubideh( skewers of lamb), and many traditional Iranian preparations are served.  Nunoz is down the street from my house.  Good eating!

Rahul.  Seafood. Aundh, Pune.

John Simon Ritchie aka Sid Vicious

Sid Vicious.  Bassist. The Sex Pistols.

Punk.  Never really heard much but always liked the image.  In London around Picadilly Circus I had seen groups of youths with purple mohawks and leather around 2006. I was taking pictures and they ducked and the girls swore at me.  Really mean looking guys, all clutching brown paper bags with liquor bottles inside.  One sweeter and less abusive one told me she would get them to pose for a quid.  I played along and gave her a coin.  And they did! Goddamn it Punk sold out!  And, what a show. Tongue studs, group poses, tattoos, I started laughing at them and they turned out to be just kids making a quick buck .  Not tough at all. Kind of sweet as they sat huddled together sharing cigarettes and chewing gum waiting for tourists to take their picture.  The first girl told me she may go on to “Uni”.  Well, hope she did.  I’m sure they are not all that sweet, but there was really not much aggression compared to the image.   Kids hanging out in Five points, Atlanta seemed more dangerous (and probably are!).  The pickup was in an empty lot near home in Pashan, Pune. 

Baner Pashan Link Road.

Sukhois and religious chants

Riverside Fairgrounds, Deccan, Pune.

Pune Civilian Airport.

In India, I can think of no town or city where the early mornings are quiet.  Blaring religious chants from small and large temples in every neighborhood on crackly amplified sound systems provide a constant backdrop.   One might think that this is an urban phenomenon. It’s not!  It’s equally bad in the countryside.  It’s really depressing when you wake up in the morning on a trek in the mountains and hear these sounds floating up from a village way down below. The religious (Hindu mostly) chants and hymns start around 5 am. They usually stop by about 7:30 to 8:00 am.  I think we fear hearing our own thoughts first thing in the morning and have to snuff them out with the name of the Lord(s).

The sound I really like in the morning is that of Sukhoi fighter planes, in pairs or singly on practice sorties above Pune.  It starts like a distant rumble of thunder and waxes and wanes in the wind. As they get closer the jet engine sound becomes apparent.    You can rarely see them.  Black triangular specks in the sky. They Doppler out going overhead and then go back to being a rumble.    The Indian Airforce has based a couple of squadrons of these Russian war planes, Sukhoi Su-30MKI in Pune.  They have a very nice profile.  They resemble General Electric F-14 Tomcats but are not that large.  Similar swing wing, dual engine/tailplane fighters.