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Apparently there are 108 names for Shiva. Putting a gold coin into each of 108 golden bowls, each with one of Shiva’s names posted, apparently helps to memorize all the names ;)
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Pam and Ganesh…
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They were repainting Shiva that night, as it was apparently an auspicious date…
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Here is the dramatic view of Shiva:
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If you look closely at the foot of Shiva you can see tiny Pam there…
This video was shot, by the way, with the Canon 5D Mark II… though the HD does not come thru here, sadly, unless I join Vimeo PLUS for 59 bucks a year; am pondering.
In Rajasthan, an elaborate and unique moustache is a sign of happiness and prosperity, and if the tips point upwards, then one is said to be closer to God. Or something like that. While in the cities I have been almost every day told that I look like a WWE wrestler called The Undertaker, in Rajasthan I was more often complimented on my facial hair…
Spending the first week in India at the Oberoi hotel in Delhi, with the chocolate truffles and the goose down pillows, and the fawning room service, with sareed princesses and Indian princes greeting us with Namaste yoga hands around every corner — may or may not have been a great idea.
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It’s frighteningly easy to get used to having things done for me. While I was in the sauna yesterday a delicate hand pulled open the glass door, and the sareed princess attendant asked if she could do anything for me. Which got me to wondering if it was possible to pay someone to sit on my ass and do nothing for me while I work long and hard and productively, so that I’ll remain in a perpetually refreshed state while accomplishing all I want to accomplish in this world. I considered asking the young woman if she could count my blessings for me.
What makes this grandeur even more delicious, is knowing that it could all come to an end at any moment. Knowing that the building could be swarmed with armed gunmen with a point to make or a cause to publicize. I start to picture bullet holes in the marble walls and thousands of plate glass windows shattered into spiderwebs…then I pick up a dark chocolate truffle and stare out the window at the city below as it melts in my mouth. Butler, bring me my Kevlar…
The problem I can see ahead is that Adobe now has 24 hour access to Phil. He works at the office in Noida, a 45 minute choking taxi ride away from our hotel, while his California colleagues are sleeping. When he returns after being pulled at all day, the office in California is up and running and grabbing at him all night. He worked through the night twice this week.
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I’ve never shopped with such purpose and urgency in my life. It wasn’t that I was so eager to leave rupees all over Delhi but it was getting harder and harder to scrub the judgmental stares off me at the end of the day.
I like attention as much as, okay…probably more, than most, but I haven’t felt this creepy brand of attention since I was a 16 year old hitchhiker with ass length hair and cut-offs. I get the feeling that everything Indian men know about Western women was learned from the Girls Gone Wild videos.
Yesterday when I stepped outside in my new modest, though totally bitchin’ Indian clothing, the ogling stopped. A couple of men at the market told me I looked nice in Indian clothes, but kept their eyes down when they said it – like they we’re talking to their mother or their sister.
Seems there’s a pretty serious Talibaptist movement in India afoot. A couple were arrested for kissing in public recently…a married couple. This is an actual article from a recent India Times:
Mangalore goons target noodle straps
NEW DELHI: Hooliganism in the name of ‘‘Indian culture’’ is still thriving in Mangalore. Local goons there have now issued threats to young women to desist from wearing ‘‘noodle straps’’ and ‘‘tight jeans’’ or face action, indicating that localauthorities have done little to curb vigilantism unleashed by extreme right-wing groups.
A central ministerial probe into the Mangalore pub molestation case, which generated national outrage, has found that fresh threats against ‘‘indecent dressing’’ were still being given in the run-up to Valentine’s Day on February 14.
This finding is contained in a report submitted by the two-member probe team sent by the women and child development (WCD) minister Renuka Choudhary. The report, prepared by ministry joint secretary Kiran Chaddha, was submitted on Tuesday. The report says these threats, coming on the heels of the pub violence, have generated fear among young couples. When contacted, the minister was unwilling to talk about the report. According to sources, the team met with victims of the pub attack and found them terrified. ‘‘The girls do not feel comfortable traveling alone,’’ the source said. The team was informed of two previous incidents when goons disrupted fashion shows.
The team has recommended that security arrangements be beefed up by the state government so that girls do not fee unsafe. This report comes after National Commission for Women member Nirmala Venkatesh visited Mangalore and virtually exonerated the goons by saying the pub’s security was lax.
