What's My Favorite Animal?
If you guessed ELEPHANT you guessed right! This beauty was right outside our flat this morning. People would give him (or her?) money and he (or she) would hand it up to his mahout.
Picture Pages, Picture Pages!
Lacking something "substantial" to chatter about (something's in the works, I promise), here's a little some local "color" to tide you over (there's more where this came from, check out the picture slideshow at the bottom).
I give you COW WITH BIG HORNS and A HARD-WORKING CAMEL!!
This camel driver cracked me up. I took this picture when I was wandering out and about one day. The guy slowed his camel down (don't let their dopey faces fool you, camels can MOVE when they want!) so I could take the picture. Then, on my way back the other way (after picking up groceries) the same guy drove by and smiled and waved. And not the creepy smile and wave that some people give you around here, but a god's honest "ah, so nice to see you again!" smile and wave.
I give you COW WITH BIG HORNS and A HARD-WORKING CAMEL!!
Stupid cow kept meandering from side to side in the road. Steve had an... unfortunate encounter with a cow last time he was in India (something about a cow trying to eat his backpack so he bapped it on the nose (as many natives do when a cow is problematic) and rather than wandering off, the cow took umbrage to his assault and hoisted Steve into the air. Next time you see him, you should ask him about it cause he tells it much better) so we kept having to switch sides of the road cause lets face it, neither end of a cow is pleasant--one end has horns the other has, well you know (FEET, people FEET with which cows KICK! Geesh, get yer nasty minds outta the gutter). Needless to say, we amused the Indians, yet once again: a pair of whities literally dodging the horns of the bull (okay, heifer but whatever)...
Out and About
Finally made it out of the house today--no late-showing cleaning crew, no upset belly, no excuses. I put on the flops, grabbed the (new) bag, and high-tailed it out of the apartment. And it was... liberating. Mind you, I just walked around the corner, past Law Garden and down to V-Mart (which does not sell anything worth buying), back down pass Law Garden, and caught a rickshaw to Reliance Fresh for some grocery shopping. Nothing really to report--saw some traffic (dodged some traffic), saw some guys doing whatever it guys do, and this bad boy making his way down the street:
In other news, the local neighborhood boys (probably about 8-14 years old) have "adopted us. Steve attempted to make Poha one day (a mixture of potatoes, peas, peanuts, flat rice, and various spices) and botched the whole thing. We saved it to feed to the Three amigos (a trio of adolescent puppies that live across the road from us) as I WILL make friends with them, they will not bark at or skirt me every single time I walk out the door... but I digress. We couldn't find them--we searched up and down the road. Then we saw them playing in the courtyard in the building across the way. Now, I'm not one to trespass on others' properties (okay, when drunk, I may "know" and "take" certain shortcuts that involve hopping fences and dashing under windows but still...) so Steve and I stood, scorched poha in hand, peering at the dogs, hemming and hawing about feeding these little monsters when three little boys ask us, "You want to feed the dogs?"
After some initial mis-communication, the boys lead us inside. The dogs, two golden colored, one black, all curly tailed, scatter when they see us (I am used to this by now). We put the poha down on the ground and wait. The black dog (Puppyrati--because he yodels and sings vs. barks) comes out first. He is friendly and has let me scratch his ears before. They boys bring us a dish to dump the poha into. It occurs to me that these dogs, unlike most of the dogs we see wandering the streets, are actually taken care of. While belonging to no one, they've found shelter and people who will feed and socialize them. They are used to and friendly enough with the boys that the dogs let the boys pick them up. The boys tell us that the puppies' mother came there with them one day, left, and didn't come back. Since then, the whole complex has taken care of the dogs--feeding them, playing with them.
These boys are also curious about us--they want to know where we are from, what we are doing, if we speak Gujarati. They tell us their names and some other details before being called in for diner. Before they leave, the one that speaks (and understands) English the best instructs us that he and his friends will be available daily only at 6 p.m. Over the course of the next couple days (including today), this boy has introduced more friends to us, invited us to play, and shown me a open/closed electric circuit his friend made a school using wire, an remote controlled car motor, and a AA battery. He left only after securing a promise to meet them at 6 p.m. tomorrow to learn how to play cards.
In other news, the local neighborhood boys (probably about 8-14 years old) have "adopted us. Steve attempted to make Poha one day (a mixture of potatoes, peas, peanuts, flat rice, and various spices) and botched the whole thing. We saved it to feed to the Three amigos (a trio of adolescent puppies that live across the road from us) as I WILL make friends with them, they will not bark at or skirt me every single time I walk out the door... but I digress. We couldn't find them--we searched up and down the road. Then we saw them playing in the courtyard in the building across the way. Now, I'm not one to trespass on others' properties (okay, when drunk, I may "know" and "take" certain shortcuts that involve hopping fences and dashing under windows but still...) so Steve and I stood, scorched poha in hand, peering at the dogs, hemming and hawing about feeding these little monsters when three little boys ask us, "You want to feed the dogs?"
After some initial mis-communication, the boys lead us inside. The dogs, two golden colored, one black, all curly tailed, scatter when they see us (I am used to this by now). We put the poha down on the ground and wait. The black dog (Puppyrati--because he yodels and sings vs. barks) comes out first. He is friendly and has let me scratch his ears before. They boys bring us a dish to dump the poha into. It occurs to me that these dogs, unlike most of the dogs we see wandering the streets, are actually taken care of. While belonging to no one, they've found shelter and people who will feed and socialize them. They are used to and friendly enough with the boys that the dogs let the boys pick them up. The boys tell us that the puppies' mother came there with them one day, left, and didn't come back. Since then, the whole complex has taken care of the dogs--feeding them, playing with them.
These boys are also curious about us--they want to know where we are from, what we are doing, if we speak Gujarati. They tell us their names and some other details before being called in for diner. Before they leave, the one that speaks (and understands) English the best instructs us that he and his friends will be available daily only at 6 p.m. Over the course of the next couple days (including today), this boy has introduced more friends to us, invited us to play, and shown me a open/closed electric circuit his friend made a school using wire, an remote controlled car motor, and a AA battery. He left only after securing a promise to meet them at 6 p.m. tomorrow to learn how to play cards.
Animal Planet on My Porch
WARNING! If you are weak of stomach, or gross out easily, please skip this post. The pictures below include a bit of, urm, carnage. Lets just say, the pigeons that lived in the box on the porch (when we moved in, we inherited a box full of mostly-grown pigeon babies) had an unfortunate (but not inconceivable--cause, really, a box on a porch does not a good nest make!) run-in with some sort of small hawk who posed for a few shots with his/her... prize. I was inside, about two-three feet away from the hawk as it first guarded its catch from the crows, then devoured it. While a bit too much live-action Animal Planet, it really was an interesting study in how adaptable wildlife is to human sprawl.
