Bombastic

[jawnbc]

So I went to India last week.




After many hours flight and some fitful sleep I hit the streets of Mumbai early on Sunday morning. On cue a wandering holy man offered both a blessing and a suggested amount to donate as gratitude for said blessing. That ain't no bhindi, muthafucka:



I spent the balance of Sunday staggering around this intense megalopolis. As the day wore on, it was less overwhelming.

The next day I was ready for the streets, and enjoyed a private tour of town (cost: $AU20). I got to see where a signficant portion of the the micro-economy--in the form of "laundry out" services--took place:



My hotel--Shelley's--was on the inner harbour; the tour included a stop on the Arabian Sea side of the peninsula:



Another highlights was the Jain temple, whose ornate structure really made me smile:



The next day was my day trip to Elephanta Island. The boatride offered a lovely view of the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel:



On Elephanta itself, there was both infantile monkey masturbation



And the sort of family scene all-too-often advertised in spam



Still, the stone carvings in the temple were pretty kewl. Ganesh holds a particularly dear place in my heart:



By the time I got back to my hotel I was in need of a cold one. Sadly, there was not more Coke to be had, so the local substitute would have to do:



Shame they couldn't afford the b . . .

Comments

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

Is the Jain temple you visited anywhere their funeral temple? The Orthodox Jain is left out to rot, essentially, and his bones are picked apart by the local buzzards...

[jawnbc]

Dunno, but it was in a residential area, so I'd suspect not.

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I just seem to be obsessed by South Asian death rituals. Swimming in the Ganges and all that.

[quetzalcoatl.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if you were mixing up the Jains (which evolved from Hinduism) with the Parsees, the decendants of the Zoroastrians who migrated to India from Persia, and formed the traditional commercial class of Bombay/Mumbai.

The Parsees have the Tower of the Winds in Mumbai where the bodies are left to be picked at by vultures and the like. I thought the Jains cremated, like Hindus.

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

You're probably right. I probably am mixing them. I read about them back in high school as a freshman (please don't ask how far back), and while I was always interested I never looked into them further.

[themonkeybear.livejournal.com]

MON... MON... MMM... MMMMOOOOO ... MONKEY! MONKEYS!

*claps and squeals like schoolgirl*

isg

[whiskerfish.livejournal.com]

OK, that's it!
Your inner school girl and my inner school girl need to meet.
Just think, we could share Japanese dressing tips and drink fine green tea ala chado. (We could also not smoke and not blog)
Just yesterday I was in line at a local taco establishment behind a bunch of little asian girls in plaid skirts, knee socks and pressed white shirts.
Part of me was squealing and giddy just like them, the bitchy fag side of me wanted them out of my way.

[jawnbc]

Of course I knew you'd get all squealy! Enjoy!

[kosseferal.livejournal.com]

Thanks from this armchair tourist.

I wsa frankly worried you were going to end up with GI distress if you stayed there for long. I had a friend in the Red Cross who went and he was advised to stay well away from local foodstuffs of any kind and buy only bottled water with the seal still intact.
That was in the 80's, not sure if conditions are better or worse.

[jawnbc]

I was good: no ice in nothing, few salads, few fruit. Only bottled water and soft drinks. and meals in good restos were incredibly cheap ($2).

[carharttmo.livejournal.com]

Very cool pics. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. I think India would be a good place for me to visit. :-)

[umlilo.livejournal.com]

Love the pics! Especially the one of you sitting in the tree playing with your pee-pee...
;-)