Way Home

Its 5:15pm and yet another bus ride. I will be home in about 2 hours. Going home from work is about staring out from a blank window, and a lot of reflections about yet another day gone by. Its about reading the same signboards and about traffic jams in the same places. on the Pune Ahmednagar highway one sees wedding processions and deathly accidents, street fights and the crowded friday bazaars. On that day there are also colorful dupattas and shining bangles together with the small delighted faces of children.
The landscape is about political billboards and alternating with green fields and factories. In the distance one can see the expanse of the great deccan plains.
The photos here have been taken from the company bus whilst on the way home.
Now for a quiet nap.

Ganapati Bappa Morya!

I am trying to find a restaurant that isn’t closed by the swine flu scare or one whose owners aren’t busy at home with last minute Ganesh Chaturthi preparations. Outside a stall erected by the roadside they are selling Idols of Lord Ganesh and other accessories.
Unlike Goa, here they just go to a shop and buy the idol on chaturthi morning like a Narkasur Mask. There is no booking. They dont care that the idol isn’t the same as last year. They just buy the most convenient model they can find. Probably they bargain for it too. Just like in case of Narkasur masks.
On the road there are small processions of Hindu families walking grandly, dressed in their Thursday best carrying their Elephant god home whilst chanting Ganapati Bappa Morya. Everyone around seems to be smiling and pleased. Unlike Panaji, this place doesn’t seem like a war torn city. The air doesn’t smell of burnt fire powder. There is no distant booming of Dada bombs or the continuous chitty chitty bang bang of pistols across every street. Neither does one hear the staccato burst of crackers. There are no parachutes dropping down from the sky on unsuspecting civilians. There aren’t even harmless smoke screens of snake tablets. At night there will be no bright flares sent up and no rockets will be launched from old soda bottles. Chaturthi in this city is about lights and decoration. There is an atmosphere of victory and triumph. Drums, clangels and delighted shouts sound a happy feeling. Lezim performances in large roadside processions, and colors in the air create a festive fervor.
Strangely, in Goa we have the same kind of celebrations for Narkasur as they have here for chaturthi. We roam around the entire night amidst the sound of dhols and processions of jubilant dancing groups. We are more happy on Narkasur night than on Diwali the next day when we try to get some sleep. We are more united and spend much more time to construct a perfectly proportioned Narkasur than in organizing a social Ganapati programme.

We are different from the others in the fact that we celebrate Narkasur more than Chaturthi. We want to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the coming of the Portuguese our invaders to goa.
Well considering these facts, since Goa is called the Rome of the east. I think i will tap my head like goscinny’s Obelix, shake my head in exasperation and exclaim 'these Romans are crazy!'.
Ok fine, we Romans are crazy.
I have to leave for work now, when the company vehicle passes through the city I will probably see the other artwork and the bigger idols, till then Ganapati Bappa! ...

A Quiet Thursday

Thursday is about vegetarian food and load shedding, its a weekly off too. These three things guarantee an uneventful day. The government has shut down all multiplexes and that means no movie going like i used to do on other thursdays.
The picture i've taken is of a cloud formation above chandni chowk whilst on my way to lunch. My usual restaurant has been shut down by swine flu so i have to walk a lot extra to earn my lunch. I think i will read a book today.

Independence Day pune

Its yet another independence day. The annual mass conducted for a dead
country. The good news is global recession is wearing off according to
the times of india. Germany and france are out of recession probably
this phenomenon too will be hailed as an achievement of the congress
goverment. "humne, humara government ne, aam admi ka liye france aur
germany ko vishva uh ... Vishva ... Ok global recession se bahar
nikala, aisa NDA govt. Nahin kar saka tha unke karyakaal mein"
whatever.
Suresh Kalmadi the MP of pune has asked everyone to take precautionary
measures against swine flu. He has started a very good example by not
visiting any of the affected areas and hospitals and has stayed
indoors. Swine flu masks are being distributed free and the collector
has announced that three of the recorded deaths are not due to swine
flu but due to some other disorder. That brings the national toll
down. Thats supposedly good news here.

Like i said yet another independence day.

Test 2

Now to see if i can post photos with my mobile device

Testing

I am trying to see if i can mail my posts to my blog.