Chhavi Noticed This!

The building I work in (Videocon Tower)Â is the biggest eyesore in Jhandewalan. (I shan’t say anything about the giant Hanuman mandir here.) It’s visible from nearly everywhere; we just steer towards it when we’re driving to work. It’s also visible from a station away on the Metro. I took this photo on Saturday evening from the Metro stop. As I blithely stepped away editing it on my phone, I heard someone calling “Medem! Medem!” Yep, I was being pursued by a security guard who forbade me from taking photos in or of the station and demanded to see all my photos. So I happily started walking him through the photos of roadside temples, doggies fighting, and he let me keep my VT photo.

In Jhandewalan where I work, there is a giant Hanuman temple. Hanumanji stands about 6 stories tall and he carries Ram and Sita in his heart. Literally. He also seems to be standing on a demon he has killed and the entrance to the shrine is through the open jaw of the slain villain. (Truly.)

Someday soon I will make a video of Hanumanji, who is a bright, glaring shade of pink, in order to show you how, when you press a button — voila! his arms part from their namaskar and the golden pair of Ram and Sita come out of his heart! (Think “Celestial Cuckoo Clock” to get the right image in your mind’s eye.)

Anyway, the back side of Hanuman (with scaffolding) is visible from the Jhandewalan Metro statio. I took this photo at dusk from the inbound platform as my train pulled in. (March 15, 2007)

Near Kirti’s house in Mumbai is a temple (I didn’t check to which god to Hanuman) that is called Shri Ghanteshwar (or the Lord of Bells’-God). It is festooned with more bells than you can imagine. When you go pray for something, you tie a ghanti, or bell, and it will come true, I presume. I didn’t have my real camera on me, only my cell phone. Forgive the grainy quality. I’ll update it another time with a better shot. But know that each bump and swirl on the pillars and such is a bell (not ivy ). (March 9, 2007)

This is a view of the very festive Mata Ka Mandir in Jhandewalan taken from a window at work on the 8th floor of Videocon Tower (an extreme eyesore of a building) in which we work. Reflected in the glass are (from left to right) me, Rani, Rajat, and Ragini