House warmings are such fun to attend. Invariably everything isn’t quite in place yet, the host/hostess can’t find the glasses or the bottle opener; the person who was to bring the ice is stuck in traffic; decorations aren’t up yet… but this one I went to recently was much better put together. They even managed to keep this lit for a good … uh, 5 minutes? Pretty, no? And symbolic, I thought – beginnings, ends, all looping around each other.
…you wake up with fleas? And what about the dog?
This is one of the things I totally love about Bombay. I’ve never seen it anywhere else. This is a daytime example of someone sharing his bedroll, perhaps unknowingly, with a four-legged friend.
But if you’ve driven past the homeless at night – near VT, Dadar, Worli naka, anywhere – you’ll see man, dog, cat, even a rat, sharing space, food, love.
I <3 it 
This nearly rivals the one shop banner I saw in Saki Naka that had Sale, Rital and Holsail on it and baffled me for a good 2 minutes after I’d passed it, by which time it was too traffic-y and too late to turn the auto rickshaw around for a photo. This gem is in Byculla, a little way from J.J. Flyover. I’ve pointed and shot at it many times but it always came out blurred. My favourite driver slowed down for me to get a legible shot
This gem from the old market in Siem Reap, Cambodia. If only I could sell MY rants, too. I have so many – from Delhi’s lack of civic sense to my uncle’s Islamophobia, to the state of our educational systems in India, not to mention the state of radio in India…. 
Anyway, these are handmade LADY rants Mine aren’t very ladylike, I’ll admit. So for those, you’ll really have to travel to Cambodia.
My barely planned trip to the Kingdom of Cambodia and then Vietnam was the fulfillment of a long-time goal. Thanks to Mrs. Colaco in 9th grade history, I’ve always wanted to go to Angkor Wat. This was the first temple we visited in the temple city of Angkor Thom. These photos of Bayon feel flat and vacant after witnessing the grandeur up-close. The entire place is atmospheric and heavy with history. And in the monsoon, it’s lush and quiet and green. Aaahhh
Click the photo for a close-up (from a different angle).
I didn’t know until very recently that Mumbai is one of the very few places in the world that hosts flamingos within city limits. (Nairobi and Miami are two others.) So of course I wanted to go see. And with a video journalist friend and an expert ornithologist friend, I went off to do a piece on them (hey, why not share with the world?) The flamingo photos I took are not worth publishing, they were too far away, but, on one of the quays, against the backdrop of an oil refinery and a thermal power plant blurred by grey wisps of smog and a flock of flamingos rocking gently like rose petals on oil, were these rotting, abandoned boats. Sewri was nothing like I expected. But these boats just grabbed me. Quite poetic a metaphor, aren’t they?(If you’d like, you can listen to the story and see Nitin’s photos)
Uh, so this post’s title ran away from me …but never mind. What you see in close up is a Japani Samosa. We read about this in the paper – this store run by a Sikh has been selling Japanese samosas for the last 60 years, so 4 days before I packed up my life in Delhi, we went scouring the streets of Chandni Chowk and Chawdi Bazaar for all the old-world treats. (we also bought jewelry on Dariba Kalan, the silversmith street, but the food really was the biggest draw). Here, across Moti Cinema, is Manohar’s Japani Samosa stall. The samosa is shaped like an accordion fan (think deep fried, stuffed, fanned phyllo.) The chhole, though, were to die for. (And after two helpings each, we were close.)
This is my favorite corner in Mumbai. I marvel at it every time I pass it. This beautiful corner – Sayani Road and … something else Road – boasts not one but eight (count ‘em 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!) barbershops. These three are adjacent to each other. Then there’s the corner and a mattress/cushion stuffing storefront and then, five more – cheek to jowl! And they have differences certainly, including differently colored chairs, but I can’t help wondering – how on earth does the general public choose one over another??
I hadn’t been to Juhu Chowpatty (or Jubeach as we called it when we were little) in perhaps two decades – until we were super early for a film a few weeks ago. We decided to kill some time and eat some junk food at the beach. On the way in, I could see small things dotting the skyline – and to my horror found they were not kites, but balloon alien monkeys. They remind me of a movie, but I can’t recall which. Flying monkeys … The Wizard of Oz?
(p.s. did you know chowpatty simply means ‘beach’ in Marathi?)
I’m such a gavaar, I did not know that the Triveni Kala Sangam (~ arts center) in our capital city has a lovely garden cafe. I was quite pleased that someone in community radio suggested meeting here one spring afternoon. Ironically, we were seated right beside this sign and it totally tickled me. Apparently art and work are mutually exclusive. And maybe meetings, they think, kill – just like cigarettes do. It’s a distinct possibility, no? ;D
(In case it’s not clear enough to read, the sign says: “Right of entry reserved. SMOKING or MEETINGS Not Permitted”)
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