Showing posts with label ganesha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ganesha. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Ganpartaaay!
Ganpati continues in full swing. This shrine is outside a local store. Note the big ol' tin can of cow ghee at rear left. Yum. And Krishna cookies!
culture, club
This evening Alex and I finally got over to the health club about a block and a half away, where we have a membership that comes with the apartment. We moved here in late July and turned in the paperwork for the club right away. We got our ID cards a few days ago. Welcome to India.
Aaaaaand...the place is closed on Mondays. But at least we found out that on every other day it is open from 6:00 a.m. till 10:30 p.m. And only one hour of that is closed for lunch and only two hours are for "ladies only." (We don't expect that the doors actually open till around 7:00 a.m., because posted hours here are seen as mere suggestions, but we might be brave and try showing up at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow anyway.)
After that we went to The Culture Shop and spent money. Other than a $7.00 shirt I haven't really bought myself anything here so far, clothing-wise, seeing as I have to save my rupees in order to afford tofu and Cheerios, but tonight I splurged on a hand embroidered pashmina shawl from Kashmir:
And since it's All Ganesh All The Time right now in Maharashtra, they had all sorts of extra stuff in honor of the current festival. I got this groovy plaque to hang in my apartment:
Is there anything not to love about Ganesh? No, there is not. Plus I love how he is always making the talk to the hand gesture. You can almost hear him saying "OH HANUMAN NO YOU DITN'T!" With an accompanying head bobble, of course.
By the way--don't believe a damn thing you read at either of those links above, or on any other part of the Hiranandani Gardens propaganda site for that matter. As with so many things here, it is all about pretending to be what you're not. And what this place is not is a luxurious paradise with magnificently constructed buildings and a spotlessly posh clubhouse. I mean, it's no slum (that's next door), but the web site is seriously delusional.
Aaaaaand...the place is closed on Mondays. But at least we found out that on every other day it is open from 6:00 a.m. till 10:30 p.m. And only one hour of that is closed for lunch and only two hours are for "ladies only." (We don't expect that the doors actually open till around 7:00 a.m., because posted hours here are seen as mere suggestions, but we might be brave and try showing up at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow anyway.)
After that we went to The Culture Shop and spent money. Other than a $7.00 shirt I haven't really bought myself anything here so far, clothing-wise, seeing as I have to save my rupees in order to afford tofu and Cheerios, but tonight I splurged on a hand embroidered pashmina shawl from Kashmir:
And since it's All Ganesh All The Time right now in Maharashtra, they had all sorts of extra stuff in honor of the current festival. I got this groovy plaque to hang in my apartment:
Is there anything not to love about Ganesh? No, there is not. Plus I love how he is always making the talk to the hand gesture. You can almost hear him saying "OH HANUMAN NO YOU DITN'T!" With an accompanying head bobble, of course.
By the way--don't believe a damn thing you read at either of those links above, or on any other part of the Hiranandani Gardens propaganda site for that matter. As with so many things here, it is all about pretending to be what you're not. And what this place is not is a luxurious paradise with magnificently constructed buildings and a spotlessly posh clubhouse. I mean, it's no slum (that's next door), but the web site is seriously delusional.
Martharani Stewart
It's Sunday morning and the last day off Alex and I will have at the apartment before we come back in early October, so I'm going all domestic diva on this place's ass and doing laundry, ironing linens, etc. When we come back we will be bringing Ms. Robin with us, so I am making sure the third room is all ready for her. I've also already made pancakes and washed dishes this morning, even though strictly speaking we can leave our dishes for Mangal to do. I'm a little prissy, though, and frankly speaking I get the dishes cleaner than she does.
I'm really looking forward to having another chick at the Linguist Pad. We'll be able to give each other pedicures and gossip about boys and...wait, did I say "give each other pedicures and gossip about boys?" I meant "drink lots of vodka and make lewd jokes." I'll be adding Robin to the contributor roster soon, so that you'll be able to hear about her India exploits first hand, if she feels like tellin' ya.
Last night was a going away party for Priya at the Bandra apartment, which is called Sea World, by the way--have I mentioned this? Like, literally, the building says SEA WORLD on the outside. (The Linguist Pad building is called Avalon, and the building next door is Verona. Whatever.) Anyway, we hung out with some coworkers and drank Indian beer and ate Indian snacks, many of which were some form of dough wrapped around some form of potato.
Yesterday was Ganesh Chaturthi, so the city is being all festive and welcoming Lord Ganesh into town and stuff. It will continue for something like 10 days. This was in the lobby at Sea World:
For the knitters out there: I have busted the shackles of the heel flap style of sock construction I usually use and teach, and I'm trying short row heels and toes. I have not yet figured out how to not get tiny little holes at the turning points, so that's irritating, but I do love the zigzag toe bind off I learned yesterday:
Ok, people...that's all I gots.
I'm really looking forward to having another chick at the Linguist Pad. We'll be able to give each other pedicures and gossip about boys and...wait, did I say "give each other pedicures and gossip about boys?" I meant "drink lots of vodka and make lewd jokes." I'll be adding Robin to the contributor roster soon, so that you'll be able to hear about her India exploits first hand, if she feels like tellin' ya.
Last night was a going away party for Priya at the Bandra apartment, which is called Sea World, by the way--have I mentioned this? Like, literally, the building says SEA WORLD on the outside. (The Linguist Pad building is called Avalon, and the building next door is Verona. Whatever.) Anyway, we hung out with some coworkers and drank Indian beer and ate Indian snacks, many of which were some form of dough wrapped around some form of potato.
Yesterday was Ganesh Chaturthi, so the city is being all festive and welcoming Lord Ganesh into town and stuff. It will continue for something like 10 days. This was in the lobby at Sea World:
For the knitters out there: I have busted the shackles of the heel flap style of sock construction I usually use and teach, and I'm trying short row heels and toes. I have not yet figured out how to not get tiny little holes at the turning points, so that's irritating, but I do love the zigzag toe bind off I learned yesterday:
Ok, people...that's all I gots.
