At The Edge

On a cold winter night. Gurgaon, January 2012 . Damn it's already 2013. -0- Previously: In Summer

Leela Mishra in Sai Paranjape's Chashme Buddoor (1981). -0- Not often remembered fact about this film is that the main motif of this more than thirty year old Delhi based funny film made by a woman was violence against women. I believe the reason for that could be that for a certain generation, driven by nostalgia, "the Room" and the life of its occupants defines a certain era, a certain phase in life. While a lot may have changed since then, but if walk on this city's streets now, you can see how the Delhi motif still persists. -0-

Not from wet dream of ultra-nationalist Indians and indo-pak peaceniks From 'This is India' by Peter Muir. Maps by Frances Muir.1943. It's a funny little book [ read here ], sample this from a chapter titled Gandhiana: "If Gandhi were on trail and under oath, he would unquestionably stick to what he believed to be the truth, but his technique of circumlocution, indirection, and irresponsible self-contradiction gives the impression that evasion, not clarification, is his aim.There is no necessity to interpret the language of Rajagopalachari, whose vocabulary in English is no larger that Gandhi's. But few Indians, even, would volunteer to translate the meaning of Gandhi's utterances, his style is so successfully abstruse." While in a chapter on Jinnah titled 'Mr.Jinnah rolls up a Rug' Peter Muir say's had Jinnah been head of a Christian organisation, he would have been named Jesus Christ Jones. Actually the chapter is a take on caste pol...

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Tough chance anyone of those is going to claim a seat. But the reservation for them remains in UP state roadway buses. Gajendra Moksha symbolism at a Sikh Gurudwara in Agra. Reached Delhi just before midnight. Got off at Badarpur border and hitched a ride in a cab onway to Gurgaon. The roads were still alive. Young boys on bikes, three on almost each one of them, all screaming, 'Nara-E-Takbeer' and answering their own calls with 'Allah-o-Akbar'. Men walking back home, waving at vehicles to stop, asking for destinations, hitching rides. It was Shab-e-Barat... the night of records, the night of assignment and the night of deliverance, the night of ancestors. -0-

Delite Diamond,  Darya Ganj -0-

Sun's chariot atop Shani Temple at Chandni Chowk, Delhi -0-

On the peripheral walls on Red Fort and the red walled flyover in front  of it. -0- Unrelated post: Arundhati's Beast

And while we are are on the subject of Heroines and print technology: A man at Daryaganj showing a neat little cut and paste technique. video link

And while we are still in Old Delhi...

June 27, 2011 A trip to Sunday Kitab Market at Daryaganj is always a delight, but this Sunday I was surprised to see a new stall. The kid as the shop told me it has only been there since last couple of weeks. I went thorough the stuff, quite impressed, there were even Raj era letters, Rs.10 a piece. This was obviously just the sample. And the rates are great. Certainly better than what one pays online for such stuff. Hundred rupees for the theater brochure of 'Bombay to Goa' isn't too bad. The kid said he father will be back soon. An old man asked the kid how much for the whole bunch of those old letter. The man said he wants all, how much. The kid started flipping through the album in which the letters were kept, counting under his breath. 'Are you calculating?' The old man looked at me and then at the boy and gave a benevolent. The father was there when I returned, he introduced himself as Shenky [ real name  Suleiman ] and in the same breath asked me if I ha...

All I heard was a heavy Droff somewhere in the background. The distinct sound of a body hitting the ground. As I turned around,  a woman from somewhere inside the womb of an auto-rickshaw shouted out to no one in particular and perhaps to herself, ' Uthao usay! ' After many Sundays, I felt like going out. There had been a nice drizzle in the morning, I felt like going to Chandni Chowk and Daryaganj, at Daryaganj you can make the best bargains when the sky is cloudy and the road is wet. And its narrow, busy lanes remind me of the place where I grew up. I felt like going. I talked a friend into coming along, which turned out to be a good things as I felt like not going soon after I well sold the idea to him with lines: 'you can get your fat M.Tech books real cheap. When were you last there? Twelve years! Too long .'But then I started having second thoughts.  It is going to get humid. I can stay here and finish that damn book.  It was a good thing...

Noticed at Guru Dronacharya Metro Station and posted only after getting convinced that the word is not an electrical engineering term. Would have been funnier if a heritage site was to say that back to the Metro.

Noida Sector 34. September 2010 Future telling Machine + Weighing Machine + Heavy Brooding Vidhya Padhia ki Kasam. Mast Hai.

  Chakkuwalla or the Bicycle Knife and Scissors Sharpener at 34's Friday Market.

At the start of  wet season each year Christmas Island gets red crabs and at the start of wet season each year, in July-August, Delhi gets saffron Kanwariyas.

If they ever decide to run a poll for English words that be officially included into Hindi vocab, I have made my decision. When I first saw the word,  I thought it was a brand of water or something. Then much time later, I realized 'Aroh' (आरोह)  stands for RO - filtration  process known as Reverse Osmosis .

Inside the city the wind blew free through the length and breadth of Chandni Chowk, raised dust in the streets and by-lanes, lashed the stalwart trees that stood in rows in the middle of the bazar from Fatehpuri to the Fountain and beyond. Men shut themselves up inside the houses or in shops. At noon the city seemed deserted and dead but for the grating noise f tram cars that plied throughout the day, though few people used them. In the evening men came out when the sun had gone down and the water had been sprinkled, and the city hummed with noise... - Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali , perhaps the best English novel ever written about old Delhi and the twilight days of its Muslim aristocracy, first published in 1940 (with some help from Virginia Woolf ). Trams Cars first came to Chandni Chowk in around 1910 and were running around till 1960s. There are now plans for the tram to be reintroduced. Previously: Chandni Chowk's Paranthewali Gali

Window and the Sky. Took this photograph towards the end of May. -0- Since last few weeks, there's hardly any cloud in the sky. Sun is melting tar off the roads. It sticks to the sole. Monsoon is late. A bird living nearby has gone mad, everyday, sharp at 2:30 in the sharp afternoon, it starts chirping mad. It's not koel. Delusion. Cuckoo. Not even a cursory dust storm greets it in the evening. I saw an old woman walk straight, face first, into the cold glass wall of a cool mall. Disorientation. It broke her beak. I yay ya suku suku . -0- I am seeing a rise in queries leading to that old rain song: 'Allah Megh De'. Call it summer effect. I am again listening to ' Lapak jhapak tu aa re badarwa ' from Boot Polish (1954). Classic. [ watch] . Yes, it's a funny song. Just wait for the song to end and for the rains to start. It turns tragic. I am looking at photographs of rain clouds and then their video . I am gazing at Bollywood water fairies...