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  Books that have now been worn out and are being withdrawn and some “slow movers”.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.