Winehouse R.I.P.

For some reason I remembered that it will be a year already since she died.  I was not a big fan but she had a very unique voice. Good band as well.

Kimchi

Saw a pile of Chinese cabbage at this vegetable and meat market in the Pune cantonment. Shivaji market.  I have found a genuine Korean restaurant near where I work.  I had been advised by the proprietor to grab and buy a head of Chinese cabbage whenever I saw one before the 600 or so Koreans who live in Pune got to it.  To fulfill my dream of making kimchi at home in Pune.  So I did!  Its being salted down as I write, along with some daikon radish. Tomorrow, the pepper and garlic.  It will be a vegetarian one.

Goodluck

Goodluck Cafe. Iranian restaraunt.   Deccan Gymkhana landmark. I stood and drew this, its a crowded intersection.  The motorbikes and scooties effcetively block  of the entrance.  Too many to draw.
I like the bun omellete and irani chai breakfast.

Deep stambh

This is the area leading up to a temple on a small hill called Chaturshringi in Pune.   It's a temple to the goddess '"Chaturshringi".  Quite an old temple that is flourishing now.  This area is lined with shops and eateries for the faithful before and after their visit to the see the temple deity.
The stone post on the left with the many protrusions is old ( possibly sixty to a hundred years old) and used to be lit up with oil lamps.  A small lamp was placed on each of the "holders" during certain religious festivals .  It was carved from basalt, the native stone of the Deccan trap.  Sadly, now it serves as a holder for a modern spot light placed on it and as a general purpose post to tether shops and what nots.
The grotesque Mickey Mouse bounce house is the star attraction.

Marriott

Came out of the Crossword book store on Senapati Bapat road and looked directly ahead and saw this large crane at the construction site between where I was, and the Marriott.  It was dusk and the rain clouds had come in. In the grey and deep blue gloom the Marriotts neon was the only color in the depressing landscape.  "... and the land is dark and the Marriotts neon is the only light we'll see... stand by me." Sorry Jerry Lieber and Ben E. King. 

Laxminarayan temple

Small old temple near "Sakal", the Marathi language newspaper, offices and old press in Pune.  The backward lean in the drawing is all mine.  Its a quirk I am aware of, but it creeps into drawings once in a while.  I'm lopsided on the inside it would seem.

Landour houses

View looking down the hill from a restaurant close to Ruskin Bond's house.  (Indian born Englishman who has written many novels set in India.).  I had a hearty Tibetan noodle soup.  Quite cold outside. Late December 2011.  This is halfway down to the main Mussoorie market and is free from the crowds and the dirt and chaos that seem to follow.