things to do in bombay when you're dead inside

Question: what is black and white (and green) and cute all over?

Is it this puppy that hangs out near our office? Yes, if you don't look too closely at his mangy fur.



Is it this baby sweater set I made out of sock yarn? I hope so.



And here's a lace baby hat being blocked on a cereal bowl:



That's all I gots. What can I say--I have been here enough that on weekends I prefer to just hang out at home and avoid the noise and crowds and smells and sights and general bombardment of the senses that comes with Bombay. Today Casey and I spent the afternoon watching DVDs and, um, drinking hard liquor.

Alex and Robin went to a museum today, so maybe they will have more interesting things to post.

more pics from the new pad

View from my bedroom window on the 22nd floor. Clockwise from bottom left: Lovely landscaped jogging path; luxury apartments; slum; building under construction + slum combo.

Some interior shots with my j@ckass roomates:





My sparsely appointed bedroom (but at least I bought pretty bed linens):



And yes, I sleep with a stuffed pig named Beatrice. You wanna make something of it? Because Beatrice will kick your ass.

DAT cat, world traveller

The DAT cat has been having quite a few adventures lately. Sure, normally he lives in the air conditioned comfort of the office:



But sometimes he goes along on trips. Here he is at the crack of dawn aboard a train from Delhi to Agra:



I won't tell you everything he saw out the window on his two-hour train ride, because this is a family blog, but he did see a lot of pigs and monkeys. In fact, DAT cat would like to show you a monkey:



Did we mention that DAT cat has a friend named MEOW kitty? They get along famously. Here they are at the Red Fort in Agra:



Sometimes they gang up on Casey:



DAT cat is somewhat of a connoisseur of the textile arts, himself having been handcrafted of the finest raw silk and English cotton, not to mention some polyester fiberfill I found in the back of my closet, so he enjoyed our trip to the Kanu carpet factory in Agra:



He even helped me pick out this handmade merino wool rug to buy and ship back to San Francisco:



Finally, DAT cat would like to demonstrate for you the infamous Indian "head bobble." What is he trying to convey? "Yes?" "No?" "Maybe?" "Your mom?" As always with the head bobble, it remains a mystery.

show me the monkey

OK, the quality is not great and it's short, but you get the idea: Agra is COVERED IN MONKEYS.

money shot

Finally, a photo of an elephant in traffic. Next goal: the monkey shot.

scenes from a carriage

Well not a carriage exactly, more like a Toyota SUV. I realized today that I really like sitting in the front seat on the way home because (a) it's the only passenger seat with a seat belt, and (2) there are more angles from which to take photos. We end up stopped in traffic a lot and there is usually something interesting and/or colorful happening nearby. All these photos are from the drive home this evening.

This is a pretty classic view out the front window of the car:



Often we'll be pulled up right behind one of the gazillion elaborately painted "goods carrier" trucks:



I like them even (sometimes especially) when they're faded:



And then I also love the bright clothes that people wear, especially women and children. Note that Ganesha is in the foreground, watching out for everyone:



The critters-on-the-streets tally currently includes countless stray dogs and cats; cattle; elephants; horses; chickens; goats; sheep; and, finally, a monkey. Alex was looking the wrong direction and missed it, much to his disappointment. Some guy had it on a leash at the beach.

big adventure

The weather finally cooperated this weekend (meaning it only dumped rain a couple of short times and the temps were in the 80's and it was really muggy) and so Alex, Casey, Gina, Don, and I hired a car and went down to Colaba at the southern end of the city. It was quite an adventure! No outing would be complete without an Inappropriate Animals in Traffic component, so check this out:



A guy on a bike in downtown Mumbai traffic with two cows. On a leash.

We had yummy lunch at Delhi Darbar restaurant, and it looked a little something like this:

Gina and I both find it somewhat maddening (OK, Gina extremely maddening) that the custom in most restaurants here is to serve the various foods directly onto your plate, even when you don't want any (if you're not fast or firm enough about declining it). Anyway, we had 5 different veg items, and it was all pretty dang good. Even though I am usually vegan I must admit I have some kind of advanced Paneer Disorder, namely that I can't stop eating it nom nom nom.

See my picasa album for a whole bunch of new photos (link is also always on the sidebar over there), but here are a few favorites:







And of course we had to get a photo of this:


Now I'm ready to just sit and knit for a while. Whew. Karen = old lady.

morning commute critter report

This morning on the way to the office we saw:

Cattle: 6
Elephants: 3
Stray dogs: countless

One of the elephants and four of the cattle were literally in the middle of regular traffic. Alex is still really really hoping for a monkey.

I didn't get a photo of any of the elephants because after we saw (and missed photographing) the first two I thought, well, why get out the camera now? What are the chances of seeing another elephant this morning?

Apparently the chances were pretty good.