T-I-I....

We've taken many a picture of the street where we live. Photos when we arrived, the many wedding and the many festival processions, friends and family coming and going, our first monsoon flood... But today I think we have the winner.
Before dawn this morning, say 5am, there was a bloody grate crashing sound followed by the sound of a truck engine revving. We jumped up to see the what was the making all the noise only to see the truck speeding off lowering its tray after dumping a pile of building rubble right on the street below. It is not uncommon to see rubble strewn around building sites but this is new in the Mumbai Madness...

The added bonus in the pic is the scene we see so much of but still don't fully understand. Grown men and teenage boys holding hands in public like lovers that cannot bear physical separation from each other. This, in the same society where even incidental contact between the opposite sexes is still taboo.
Yup, T-I-I...This is India...

Quite a stir...

We were in a restaurant in Jaipur recently called Peshwari. A nice place serving tandoor cooked meats and veg dishes..
The custom in Peshwari is to eat with your hands, nothing out of the ordinary until they brought over the bib/aprons to wear as we enjoy the food.
Well, nothing out of the ordinary until Shaz put the bib/apron on creating quite a stir, yeah she looks happy in the pic but the rest of the place was aghast, the moral police were called to arrest a naked woman dining in the restaurant...

Ganpati Bappa

The grandest festival in the Mumbai calendar started yesterday when Lord Ganesha (गणेश) the giver of peace and prosperity was welcomed into the homes of Hindus all over the city. The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi following monsoon, heralds the beginning of the festive season. It is an exciting time in India especially in the packed city of dreams, Mumbai.
For the next six months the mood of the city is said to stay upbeat and the trials of the monsoon are forgotten.
On Friday we took a drive into South Bombay and saw a large Ganesh image being towed up the main street on the wrong side of the road to a place where the locals can come and pray. As tradition dictates, in 10 days time this and other large community images will be immersed in the most convenient body of water to signal the end of the festival.

The Ganesh images come in all shapes and sizes and for this festival are made from clay mostly but more are being made of toxic plaster now due to the intricate work of shape and paint. Craftsmen take months to make the idols which range in price from Rs80-Rs300,000 ($2.50-$8000+) Thanks to Shagga who visited us during monsoon we have a Ganesh on the dash of Noddy the Ambassador..

Today we were fortunate to be invited to take part in the family celebration of owners of our apartment. We rolled around to the family house with Lif and Ash after watching the North Queensland Cowboys beat the NZ Warriors in the Juhu Pavilion with the Mumbai mob.
We were warmly welcomed and made our way to the family alter to pray after sprinkling Ganesh with red and white sandlewood powder from a carnation flower. We learned that Ganesh is the favored God in Hindu religion for if you pray to him your prayers are surely to come to fruition. Good God to know...

The Ganesh is draped in flowers and surrounded by offerings of food, gifts and money. This is a time for families to get together and this house felt a lot like an Australian house at Christmas/Boxing day... There was plenty of food and the TV was on with the Cricket, India v NZ..

It's said that on the last day of the festival, millions of people of all ages descend onto the streets leading up to the sea, dancing and singing to the rhythmic accompaniment of drums and cymbals. Around our way there was no waiting. The drums were beating and there were hundreds of thousands of people making their way to the beach late in the afternoon bringing their day of celebration to an end.

We joined our surrogate Indian family once again on the beach this time for the finale. Songs were sung to the clash of cymbals, a coconut was broken as part of a blessing and it was time for the lads to put the image of Ganesh on their shoulders and walk out to neck deep water where they dunked him into the ocean. This scene was being repeated up and down the length of Juhu beach some families louder than others with fireworks booming every minute or so..

Something else we learned today, in 1893, a fellow named Lokmanya Tilak transformed the annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so "to bridge the gap between the higher caste Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharshtra. Tilak chose Ganesha as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman." Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. National pride gave the Indians another reason to celebrate.

There are four essentials for the festivals, family, colour, music and fireworks.. lots of fireworks. stay tuned for more festivities...

Massage anyone....

Here in the Mumbai Madness we love a massage to relax, ease away some of the madness and bring in the Bombay Bliss. So here's a few pics to click if you'd like to give yourself or a lucky person a massage. The pics show what part of your body you may effect and what you may receive from said massage...

Feets

Not Feets.

Other bits, also not feets.

Raksha Bandhan Celebration

Today is a special day in the Hindu calendar, celebrating Raksha Bandhan,
This ritual is observed on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Shravan and is the day to celebrate the relationship of a brother and sister which is said to be one of the deepest and noblest of human emotions.

'Raksha Bandhan' or 'Rakhi' is a special occasion to celebrate this emotional bonding by tying a holy thread around the wrist. Sisters tie the sacred Rakhi string on their brothers' right wrists, and pray for their long life. This thread, is ideally made of silk with gold and silver threads, beautifully crafted embroidered sequins, and studded with semi precious stones. The Rakhi string resonates with sisterly love and sublime sentiments and have the meaning of 'a bond of protection', and Raksha Bandhan signifies that the strong must protect the weak from all that’s evil.

According to the Hindus, this is how the day is marked, ‘As per the traditions, the sister on this day prepares the pooja thali with diya, roli, chawal and rakhis. She worships the deities, ties Rakhi to the brother(s) and wishes for their well being. The brother in turn acknowledges the love with a promise to be by the sisters’ side through the thick and thin and gives her a token gift.’

The Social Binding
This ritual not only strengthens the bond of love between brothers and sisters, but also transcends the confines of the family. When a Rakhi is tied on the wrists of close friends and neighbours, it underscores the need for a harmonious social life, where every individual co-exist peacefully as brothers and sisters. All members of the community commit to protect each other and the society.

Holy Cow

Around the northern suburbs of Mumbai we often see the beloved holy cows of India. I was walking back from the shop the other day and passed two just walking up the street, some sit on the street outside the house and moo to each other, some younger cows are painted up, pulling religious carts with minders asking/guilting all to give a donation. The cows can hold up traffic if they feel like it, I've nearly hit one on the Enfield when I was overtaking a rickshaw on an arterial road and to my surprise a cow had decided to take a rest on the pavement against the median...
We've heard stories that the cows wandering the city areas eat from the garbage sites often suffer a slow death from eating plastic bags.. We've seen it in action at the garbage sites. Household organic and inorganic waste is deposited on the pavement in the village for all the crows, stray dogs, cats and cows to consume. It may sit for a few days before the local BMC or council workers collect it by hand..
Not much of a life for many of the animals least of all the Holy Cow.. or for the council workers for that matter..

Click on the pic to read the news article, but in short, 30kg of plastic was found in the cow once it had received treatment..

Juhu Sports Bar...

It's time for an update.. a sports update..

Thanks to old mate Jason at the JW Marriott, we've been able to gain a bit of sanity and expand our sport viewing from the 4 channels of Cricket available on the local cable networks. With the finals of the codes at the end of September and the Rugby World Cup up soon Jason has reached Eddie McGuire status and set up the Australia Network at the Marriott, dish and all..


The Juhu Old Boys Association is taking memberships late in the season, meeting in the Marriott Club Lounge overlooking Juhu Beach for the back to back Sunday games of the AFL and NRL. The games start at 10am and the bar doesn't actually open until 12pm... bliss!

The newsflash from the Sports Lounge of the Australia TV Network arrives in my email each week to give us the games of the coming weekend, the email quickly goes around the troops with the current Sportsbet odds linked in and away we go...

Last weekend we had ambitions of going for a kick of the footy on the beach after the games.. This wasn't to be, as the tide was in, and in monsoon there's not much beach left at high tide so Jason, Darren, Ash and myself grabbed the QLD Reds ball for a bit of passing in the bar. This wasn't enough for the lads, so we moved out to the bar foyer and started Wally Lewis passes, drop kicks, grubbers and the odd AFL handball for Darren the Adelaide Crows boy.. Ash did a great job of saving one of the light fittings when the passing got a little wild. The space really wasn't big enough, gave the staff a bit of a laugh though and gave us a hard earned thirst..

We won't be around to watch the games this weekend but we've got big plans for the Grand Final weekend.

The Girls have put in a great showing too.. Shaz, Megan and Aliyfia have put in big efforts with Megan screaming at the idiot box like she was at the game.. Great work! Great atmosphere!

oh and there's always gotta be one in the crowd... Sharma the camera loves you..