.
Triangle bread. How perfect is this? Think about it: a slice of bread with only two edges is a one-dimensional object, or in scientific terms, “crust” – and in light of the perfect economy of the three-sided bread seen here, the two-dimensional, four-sided bread we are all accustomed to is just wasteful. PLUS, no more lost energy slicing sandwiches or French toast. How did this brilliant idea pass us by?
Posts Tagged ‘India’
Feb
21
2009
Triangulicious !
Feb
19
2009
No Learning. No Enlightenment.
We embarked on this trip chanting the mantra, “No learning, no enlightenment,” but in spite of this, in the past couple of weeks, there are several things that I have learned:
1. Indian traffic proves a point I’ve spent most of my life trying to make: there don’t need to be rules to for there to be harmony. Traffic here is insane, but what is crazier still is that no-one gets angry. No-one raises their voice. When a tuk-tuk pulls out in front of a car, the car slides around it; when you launch yourself into traffic as a pedestrian, the traffic moves around you like water, not stopping to question, just going with the flow.
2. It is possible to move a twenty-foot length of metal pipe on a bicycle at rush hour.
3. In India it is always rush hour.
4. Decoding the Indian wobble-head thing is impossible. It can mean yes, no, maybe, I don’t care, I am bored, etc., which in my book means that it actually means nothing. It does, however, make Westerners want to eat their own heads.
5. Even monks shop for DVDs and talk on cell phones.
6. Eating dal for breakfast ensures that you won’t get hungry until 4pm.
Feb
18
2009
Beautility™
Our new driver took me to the City Market today in the old chaotic filthy part of Bangalore, where ponies pull wooden carts filled with construction materials and vegetable sellers proudly display their wares, and hundreds of people spend their days stringing tuberose, magnolia, chrysanthemum and rose blossoms into hefty garlands.
These fragrant ropes will find their way to temples, and be draped around the necks of statues, strung across the front of smoky tuk-tuks (also known as “auto rickshaws”), and settle onto every available surface in our temporary apartment. They will last for only a couple of days; so the flower people are ensured work, since flower garlands are everywhere :
.
Our driver, Bhaskar, explained that the jasmine flowers women wear in their hair is a Bangalore tradition. I bought a string and he pinned them into to my braid. Immediately I was enveloped in a magical force field of jasmine that moved with me as I walked. It became clear that this was a tradition that had sprung from simple necessity: in a country that can sideswipe you at any moment with a powerful waft of, “What the hell is that…” it makes perfect sense to enlist sweet jasmine to go to battle against the elements, and remind you of the beauty of life :
.
It also occurred to me that the scarf women wear draped across their neck isn’t just an elegant statement of modesty, it provides a handy rag to hold over your mouth and nose on a moments notice. Accident? I don’t think so :
.
Street fashion always sprouts from some functional need, like the rolled up right pant leg, hoodie, and messenger bag sported by half the population of San Francisco. Function inevitably becomes fashion – even in San Francisco, the anti-fashion capitol of the world.
~ Pam
Feb
16
2009
Pam. The Other White Meat.
.
In spite of my efforts to “blend,” I continue to be the object of endless, unabashed ogling. Men, women and children burn holes in me with their eyes. I’m not sure which is worse: getting used to it, or not getting used to it…
Feb
14
2009
Live Peep Show !
Some things are just plain wrong. We stumbled upon this horrifying sight in a back alley near the city center market area in Bangalore and could not believe our eyes. Click if you dare; not for the faint of heart.
.
~ Phil
Feb
14
2009
Happy Valentines Da….thwack! pow! …ugh…
Valentine’s Day, that perfectly innocent holiday – guilty of nothing more sinister than making single people feel bad, and coupled people feel pressured – has become a huge source of debate in the Indian media these past few weeks after the radical conservative Hindu group Sri Rama Sena announced that they will, among other things, “attack Indian couples marking Valentine’s Day“. Which makes the two-dozen boxes of candy hearts I threw in my bag at the last minute officially contraband in some circles.
I’ve dreaded the arrival of many a Valentine’s Day, but not out of fear for my physical safety. In the state of Karnataka, of which the city of Bangalore is the capital, the Sri Rama Sena group and their leader, Pramod Muthalik, have not only been targeting couples showing any form of public affection; the group has issued warnings to restaurants, clubs, bars and the general public that anyone found to be celebrating Valentine’s Day will be dealt with “appropriately”, meaning that perpetrators of even the gentlest of these innocent wordless communications can fear being beaten on the spot.
Public displays of affection are generally unwelcome anywhere in India, but this extremist stance has proved to be even more unwelcome. There has been a huge public outcry in the face of these threats and harassment. The people of India have mobilized to laugh in the face of such radically conservative leanings by mailing pairs of pink panties “Chaddis” to the Shiv Sena headquarters. This mobilization was instigated via a simple blog, ironically attributed to “Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women.” In just over three days the office received more than 40,000 pair. As a further act of communal defiance, restaurants and stores have gone out of their way to stage over the top red and white displays and table tops, setting the stage for countless acts of sugar coated civil disobedience to take place.
Yesterday, Friday the 13th, the government announced that they were going to deploy and extra 1800 officers in Bangalore to guard the safety of the public. By the end of the day they’d taken it one step further by arresting not only Muthalik, but also 140 of his thug followers, taking them all into what was called “preventive custody.” The rest of the city will celebrate with a frilly pink passion. We have reservations at a restaurant at the Leela Palace. I’m wearing red. We might even hold hands.
Xoxox ~ Pam :)