Well, we had so much fun on our jaunt to Pune and Trivandrum, but it was nice to be back at home in Mandara.   This apartment complex has been a wonderful place for us to live these few weeks.  It is kept super clean both inside and out.  Each morning these two ladies sweep all of the walkways and paths, removing any of the plant material that might have fallen in the night….

….and every Saturday morning we are awoken to this machine polishing the granite hallways….

I always feel bad walking on the newly polished floor with shoes that have dirt and grit on them!!!!

The complex is made up of several sets of buildings, some housing students and some professors and their families…..

The grounds are very well manicured and have lots of beautiful flowers…..

This magnificent arbor is in the center of the main courtyard…..

…and a fun play area for the kids….

I walk up these stairs everyday going to and from the laundry and I kept noticing these little bits of red in amongst the foliage….

When I delved deeper, I found this interesting red and purple flower….

Speaking of the laundry, there are four machines provided for the guest house and it was so easy to run down and put a few things in to wash each day. 

They were fully automated machines.  You put in the clothes and soap and it figured out how much water was needed and how long to wash!!!

On Saturday morning (the 26th), Michael was scheduled to give a talk at another institution in Bangalore and the driver was to pick him up at 10:00am.  The gate attendant called at 9:00am and said that the driver was there….but it was an hour early!!!   Michael went down and was told that there was a strike of the Rickshaw drivers scheduled for the day and that the taxis and  buses were striking in solidarity so nothing would be running between 10:00am and 4:00pm.   He also said that it could be dangerous to travel between those times as people were prone to throw rocks and other projectiles. 

Needless to say, Michael left early to avoid the strike hours!!!   I walked out at about 11:30 to pick up a few things for lunch and was amazed to find that almost all of the stores were closed up.  I didn’t walk far on the street because it had an eerie feel to it with almost no traffic other than motorcycles and virtually no one on the street.   But, the stores re-opened at 4:00 and life went on as normal.  Apparently none of the expected violence erupted so that was a good thing!!!

On Sunday (the 27th), we were looking forward to once again attending Bangalore Presbyterian Church, especially as we had been told that it was “Potluck Sunday”.  We wanted to take something to add to the meal but couldn’t easily cook so I decided to run down to our local sweets shop and purchase a few things.  

As I was standing at the counter, I asked the salesman what people would like best and his reply was “all of them”!!!   So, I bought a selection to take and none were none left when I came home, so I guess that he was right!!!

Sunday morning started off slowly as part of the electricity was off and we couldn’t heat water for tea or coffee or make toast. So, I had the breakfast of champions…..Pepsi and cookies…..

The church service was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed singing “Arise My Soul, Arise”, one of my all-time favorites!!!

However, the words to this song were a bit harder…..

We settled in for the sermon by Paul Arnold….

…and then it was potluck time.  As in any church, all of the women started pulling dishes out of bags and before we knew it, the meal was ready….

It was a magnificent mixture of foods and spices and we thoroughly enjoyed the food and the company….

Way too quickly it was time to say goodbye to Paul and his wife Shirley and two kids, Elsie and Joseph…..

Our wonderful driver (Prashandh)  had taken us that morning and hurried back to bring us home again and we had to have a photo to say thanks….

As the day went on we could hear lots of drums, singing, and shouting going on around us as more and more Temples delivered their Ganeshas to the water.   It sounded interesting but we decided to stay away from the religious fervor!!

About 5:00pm we had a huge rainstorm that slowed some of the celebrations down a bit but they started up again as soon as the rain stopped, however not quite as fervently.

Monday and Tuesday were mostly spent getting organized for our upcoming Trek in the Himalayas.  It took a lot of work to go thru everything we had packed and figure out what was supposed to go on the trek with us.  As I was going thru things, it became clear that we were going to have to have a small suitcase to help carry our stuff to Kathmandu so I headed out to find one.  

On the way, I passed my favorite fabric store and decided that I was crazy to leave India  without buying silk.   When I entered I was eagerly greeted and invited up the stairs to see the silks.   I chose a series of Autumn colors and ordered 2 meters of each…..

As I walked back downstairs I saw the bolts of trims that were available….

….and of course I had to have some to match the silks.   BUT, look at the baubles and beads…..

They don’t fit in my color scheme, but that is ok!!!!

And look at the color wall…..

I don’t really need those, but look at the wonderful stripes on the far left.  Some of those HAVE to go home with me!!!! 

As the store owner wrote out and added my total, I started worrying that I didn’t have enough cash.   Unfortunately he couldn’t take a credit card so I started counting out my cash, and counting my cash, and counting my cash.   The result was that I had 10 rupees left over!!!  I think that he felt sorry for me because he rounded the total down and gave me another 10 rupees back.    So much for the suitcase!!!

After meeting Michael for lunch (and getting more cash), I set out to buy a shirt in the style worn here.   I passed a small store that had one out front that I liked so I plucked up my courage and went in.    I had gone into one larger shop earlier in the trip but was put off by the fact that all of the proprietors were men and it felt weird to buy clothes from them.

But, this time I hit on a great shop with two VERY sweet young men helping me. 

The clothes are not hung out for you to see but are packaged and sitting on a shelf.  Once we had determined what size I needed, they started putting out various packages for me to look at.   After I had picked out one or two that were “possibles”, I was shown where the “trying room”was….a 2 foot by 2 foot closet with a light and mirror.

I finally chose two shirts, happy that my decision making was over and then he said the fateful words…”It’s buy 2 and get 1 free”!!!    So, more decision making ensued.    If you look in the photo you can see how many different shirts they had unpacked for me to look at!!!

Next….. to the suitcase store, talking with a young clerk who had helped me when I first started looking (before I spent all of my money).   I made my purchase after a bit of bargaining and then he asked if we could take a photo together…

Cute….huh!!!

As I was walking home from the store, I found myself happily walking in the street and feeling perfectly comfortable there.   Over the month, I have decided that it is safer and easier to walk in the street, against traffic, rather than jumping holes and dodging trees, dogs, cows  and people on sidewalk.

On Wednesday morning, Michael went in to work to drop off his keys and say goodbye to everyone and I finished up with the packing and cleaning out the apartment.  We took one last NCBS car to our hotel for the evening…..the Goldfinch Retreat. 

The hotel room is fine and will give us a good nights sleep, but the true worth was in the pool deck and bar/restaurant!!!

….and yes, Michael is holding a lit cigar!!!

We spent a wonderful 2 hours sipping on drinks and eating a fantastic meal of Non-Veg Tandoori Kabobs (ie…tasty chunks of meat), even getting to watch it being cooked.

 

Here is one of our tasty chicken bits coming out of the oven…..

The result was a wonderful meal with two types of chicken (the legs were neatly wrapped in foil so that you didn’t get your hands dirty), fish and some mystery meat that was so good we didn’t CARE what it was!!!!

Then we ordered some Naan to go with the meat and naturally I went to peak thru the little window and see the process.   He first took balls of dough and patted and rolled them into a thin flat tortilla.   The tortilla is placed on the blue and white pillow…..

….and is slapped onto the side of the Tandoor oven.  The long skewers are then used to flip the cooked bread from the oven…..

I would have bits of bread everywhere!!!

The chef’s helper desperately wanted his photo taken, so…..

The Naan arrived at the table and was quickly devoured.  It was flakey and buttery and SOOOOO good!!!

Dessert was a yummy Chocolate Mousse….

Our waiter, Krishna took excellent care of us, coming over many times to reload our plate or our glass….

Ok….this is our last night in India for now and we are both sad to leave, but excited about the next stage of our journey.

We leave for Nepal tomorrow, arriving in Kathmandu around 1:00pm.  We meet up with the REI tour group and spend Friday in the city.  THEN, on Saturday we fly to Pokhara and head out for the Himalayas!!!!

I don’t know what internet will be like over the next two weeks, but I will update when I can, and if not, I will be back on the 16th!!!

 

Now I need to return to Bangalore to catch up with the weekend prior to our Pune trip…..

The last post was about the Ganesha Festival day and it was a big one!!  The following morning things were quieter with the new shrine set up but the stage and seating gone……

Now, Michael and I had been eating almost entirely vegetarian food and it had been wonderful, but we decided that Friday evening called for a little bit of meat….. RED meat!!!

We contacted our driver who sent another young man to take us back to Sunny’s restaurant where we had gone early in our stay.

The first thing that we ordered were drinks and I decided to have a Corona….

IT COST $7.50, but it sure tasted good.

For appetizer, we had avocado with tomatoes and onions and a sauce that reminded me of thin Catalina dressing…..

The second appetizer was a Thai chicken kabob…..

Both were excellent and a great start to our meal.

We had nice main courses but then ordered dessert….Michael had Tiramisu and I ordered a Swiss Chocolate torte.   This house shaped cake appeared with the top part being a dense fudge, and surrounded with a vanilla cream….

YUMMY!!!

I had to take a photo of the back of this water bottle…..

The brand is called Himalaya (pronounced Him..mall..ya).

On the way home we passed another Ganesha site, this one much bigger than our local temple…..

Saturday was a quiet day with Michael teaching the last session of his course.  I had a few errands to do and enjoyed a few more street scenes.   Firstly there were these three ladies with their hefty burdens neatly perched on their heads….

….and these shoppers who wanted to park as close to the store as possible….

I also had an interesting interchange while shopping.  People are bad to cut in line in front of you and one man did exactly that, plopping his purchase down on the counter in front of mine.   He saw me looking (well maybe glaring) at him and he stepped back in line and told the cashier that I was first.   THEN, two young men pushed ahead of me and put their purchases on the counter.  The cashier just smiled at me and picked up my stuff first, making the kids wait.  When he opened his cash drawer I could see two of the coin areas were filled with small candies and when he gave me my change, he included two of them…it was a sweet interchange, AND, I appear to have developed a typical India head-waggle when I say thank you!!!

On Saturday evening, we were invited to have dinner with Sukumar and his wife, Sudha.  Sukumar was Michael’s host at the Indian Institute of Science when we were here in 2008.  We had a lovely dinner in their home and enjoyed hearing of Sukumar’s work with the elephants of India.   He has written a gorgeous book called “The Story of Asia’s Elephants” which explores the mammal as seen in science, literature and art.  

On the way to his house we passed a Ganesha parade that was heading to the water for the dunking.    There were lots of drums…..

…and some other interesting looking characters as well…..I’m not sure why this young man has been captured…..

We passed one lake that had a concrete “cage” in one corner and there was a rather large Ganesha already soaking in it.   We have since heard that this is one of the “approved” areas for the statues to be submerged because it wont disturb the ecology of the lake.

On Sunday morning, Michael was suffering with a head cold so we skipped out on church but in the afternoon we had a dinner planned with the students from his course. 

In the last few years, Bangalore has developed a beer culture and many Micro-breweries have sprung up and we were headed to “The Bier Garden”.  It was quite hectic trying to get enough taxis to take us all to the restaurant and rounding up the students seemed a bit like Corralling Kittens!!!

One ordered taxi didn’t show up so we “commandeered” another one and the driver and two students vociferously discussed how much the trip would cost.   Michael and I both had visions of being dumped out along the side of the road.

Our group was the first to arrive and snapped up the best seats at the LONG table, a couch that would seat four!!!   The only problem was that we had to all work together to scoot the couch in or out  so one of the students (Gaurab) started referring to us as “Team Couch”.  

As we started ordering, the captain of “Team Couch” mentioned that they served bacon wrapped sausages.  How could we resist…..

This set the tone for the evening as we plowed our ways thru plates of onion rings (isn’t this a great way to serve them)…..

….hamburger platters…..

……and MANY other delicious dishes.

This was the “Vegetarian” corner and all “Veg Only” dishes were passed their way first…..

There was an exceptional trio playing, although they specialized in songs from the “Peter, Paul and Mary” era.

Michael and I laughed that we were certainly the only ones at the table who remembered the first iteration of these songs, and were probably the only ones in the entire bar who were old enough to remember them!!!

When dessert time came, I chose the chocolate cake which ended up being a lava cake with ice cream that was magnificent……

When I asked this young man what his dessert tasted like, his answer was “pink”!!!

Here is the happy group…..

….followed by Krushnamegh sorting out the VERY hefty bill….

The night ended much as it had begun with 15 people trying to find taxis to take us back to NCBS.  Fortunately, two of the students took pity on us and ensured that we were safely chauffeured back to our apartment!!!

Tomorrow we head to Pune!!!!

On Wednesday afternoon, we left Pune and headed to the city of Trivandrum, via Bangalore and a one hour wait in the airport.

The full name of the city is Thiruvananthapuram (pronounced “Thee Ru Va Nun The Poo Rum”).   We had just called it “Thing-a-ma-bob” up until we got here and found that most people use the shortened version, Trivandrum.  It is located in the state of Kerala and is at the Western Southern tip of India..

We were once again picked up at the airport by a driver and headed to our hotel.  I knew that we were next to the ocean and asked the driver where the coast was.  He pointed out the window and said “there” and we looked and could see the breakers in the moonlight…..our first view of the Indian ocean.

We arrived at The Residency Towers Hotel and were ushered into our SUITE….

As soon as we unpacked, we headed to the comfortable chairs.  Here is the sultan relaxing on his chaise lounge…..

Breakfast on Thursday morning was a buffet once again featuring both Indian and Western food.  My meal consisted of Chicken sausages, fried potatoes, grilled tomatoes,  medhu vada (fried lentil doughnuts) served with a savory Chutney and a new pastry called Battura…..

The Battura looked and tasted a lot like a Mexican Sopaipilla so I got another one and added a packet of honey…..

YUMMY!!!!

We were picked up by Hema, Michael’s host at the IISER institute in Trirvandrum.   She first suggested coffee and as Michael has NEVER turned down coffee, our first stop was at a Café Coffee Day.  I appreciated a sign in their shop that told people not to come behind the serving counter.  It said that “trespassers will wash dishes”.

One of the first things that I noticed as we drove was that many of the men were dressed very differently here,wearing long white “skirts” called Lungi……

 

The interesting thing about this clothing is that it has a split down the front so that the tail ends can be picked up and tied around the waist, making it a shorter and cooler version…..

We had noticed that we didn’t see a lot of Ganesha statues but instead saw an abundance of Catholic churches in the area……

Hema said that the religious divide was very different than in the rest of India…..it was 50% Hindu, 30% Muslim and 20% Christian.   She said that Christianity dates back thousands of years as it is a tradition that one of the apostles, St. Thomas, spent time in India.  It was interesting to see the mix of churches, including this cool looking Mosque…..

We were heading to the area where the new ISCER facility was being built and drove for about an hour, soon leaving the city and driving thru gorgeous forests and small villages.   I loved the colors of the houses….so reminiscent of Bahamian beach houses…..

The IISER (Indian Institute of Scientific Education and Research) is an elite institution that trains Undergraduates and Graduates in the areas of Mathematics and Science.   It is different from other Universities in that the Undergraduates are very quickly immersed into a research (hands on) culture.  They pull from the very top tier of students so all of them are highly motivated and very astute.  There are six such institutions around the country.

This IISER in Trivandrum has only been in existence for 7 years and started out on one floor of the Engineering School building.  They added another floor and took it over and are now BURSTING at the seams.  To alleviate this problem they are building a state-of-the-art facility on the outskirts of the city.  It is built against the west flank of the Western Ghats , a mountain range that runs parallel to the west coast of the country.  Accordingly, the views are gorgeous!!!

We saw the scale replica of the facility as it is expected to look when it is finished in the next few years…..

Their goal is to be a completely self sufficient unit with Solar power and water treatment plants, etc.   There will be dorms/apartments for the students and housing for the Professors and other staff in a small area away from the research unit…..

Construction is going on all over the compound with buildings going up at an amazing rate.  We had a chance to walk thru the Chemistry building…..

Although I am sure that the scientific facilities will be state of the art, I was more interested in the aesthetic qualities of the building.   All of the walkways are open air and I loved the geometry of the design….

Each of the four main science buildings have small auditoriums for classes but there will be a building containing large auditoriums for the larger classes and meetings.  All of these buildings (the science buildings and the Auditorium center) will be connected by overhead walkways.  This is one of the smaller rooms…..

The two young men in the photo joined us on the tour, going ahead of us and turning on lights and making it easy for us to see everything.   Although he didn’t look nearly old enough, one of them was the “Assistant Project Manager”!!

Being good scientists, everybody had to stop and look at this butterfly lounging in one of the stairwells…..

There was some discussion about whether it was a butterfly or a moth but Krushnamegh (our butterfly expert) has now confirmed that it is a Parthenos sylvia (Clipper).

While they were looking at the fauna, I was once again looking at the floor (pardon the toe).  It is a bit hard to see, but I can see making a block out of the combination of squares and rectangles…. 

As we drove thru the property we were told more about the facility.  There will be electric fences around the boundaries to keep the large animals out, but there will be openings that will allow the animals to have access to the waterways.  They are building observation towers around the waterways so that the animals can be unobtrusively watched.

We passed one area and one of the young men pointed and said that this area was known to have lots of King Cobras.  I poked Michael in the arm and told him to take the camera and go but I would wait in the car!!!

We visited the Director’s home and saw that it was progressing along nicely….

And his/her view will be SPECTACULAR……

I was reminded that so much of the work is done by hand and with sheer hard labor….

We left the area and started driving up thru the mountains so that we could see more of the area.   We passed several monkeys but our driver was channeling Mario Andretti and was driving too fast to take a decent photo.  However, we passed one and he slowed down so that I could hang out of the window and take a decent photo.   First there was one monkey…..

Then two, including one in a trash can…..

….and then a whole tree full.   I think that there are 7 in this photo……

Our destination was “Ponmudi” (meaning Golden Peak), a hill station  55 kilometers Northeast of Trivandrum. 

We found that being in a government (IISER) vehicle was like a pre-paid pass.   We didn’t wait at the gate with all of the other cars and didn’t have to pay to get into the park. 

Once in, we made our way up 22 Switchback curves (they were numbered….I didn’t count them)  with gorgeous scenery on the straightaways….

We were astounded with the number of visitors on a weekday….. but were told that the day was actually a holiday…Eid al-Adha, a Mulsim festival that many Muslims celebrate with special prayers, greetings and gifts.  Interestingly we had originally been told that this holiday was on Friday and not Thursday, but apparently the moon phases were slightly different than what was expected so the day was changed at the last minute.

The scenery was delightful, even though rainclouds were threatening all around us…..

I appreciated this sign encouraging people to take care of this earth….

In the distance we could see a tall observation tower with a steady stream of people making their way to the top…..

We were in a bit of a hurry, so after a few photos (Michael and Hema)….

…it was time to make the trip DOWN the mountain.   Going down, the driver could go even faster, often passing on blind curves, but honking loudly to let the other drivers know where he was.

We had passed a couple of gorgeous streams on the way up so I tried to be ready to grab a photo as we came up on them again….

This slightly blurred photo is of rubber hung out to dry in the sun…..

The rubber trees are tapped and the rubber is poured in thin sheets onto metal pans.  Once it has solidified the sheets are put out on the line to dry.

Hema suggested that we needed to stop for a quick snack and bought several Red Bananas.  They are shorter and plumper than regular bananas and are soft and sweet….

You can be fairly sure that they are fresh when the grocer is cutting them off of the stem!!!

It was decided that we had time for a quick lunch and stopped for Dosa, a crepe-like pastry made from a fermented rice and lentil batter…..

It is served with several tasty dipping sauces and was a perfect end to the tour.

We dropped Michael and Hema back at the IISER building so that he could give his talk and then the driver took me back to the hotel. 

We were on our own for dinner so decided to go to The Orbit Bar and have drinks and goodies.  This time I chose a local beer, Kingfisher, and enjoyed a HUGE bottle although I thought that I had ordered the smaller one….maybe this WAS the smaller one???….

We enjoyed a mixture of fried shrimp, beef and pepper stir fry and spicy chicken fingers.   The staff did a great job of spacing them out so that we had lots of time to talk and catch up about our trip.  We knew that we HAD to have dessert so I ordered the fried ice cream dipped in chocolate and Michael had Gulab Jamun and ice cream……

Both were excellent!!!

After a good night sleep, we arrived at breakfast to be greeted by smiley faced tater tots…..

While we were waiting for Michael’s driver to arrive, I asked the fancily dressed doorman to pose for a photo…..

He did so with much grace but then got ribbed by the other employees after I walked away….poor guy!!!

The hotel lobby was magnificent…..

….but what really caught my eye was this light fixture…..

As we had driven around, I noticed the electrical poles and lines so stepped outside of the hotel to take a few photos…..

It is hard to fathom how they can keep everything straight!!!

When we had been picked up on the day before, I had noticed this statue not far from our hotel…..

Hema saw me straining to see what it was and helpfully divulged that it was a government regulated Handicrafts store….and within walking distance of the hotel!!!!   So, today, when I had checked out of the hotel, the car picked me up and made a stop here on the way back to IISER.  I had a very fast visit thru the shop and picked up a few more things to bring home….just what we needed!!

This driver was different from most as he seemed to believe that buses COULD indeed kill you and he didn’t pull out in front of them like others had done.  He also stayed off of his horn, but did use his headlight flasher to signal others to get out of his way.

We were taken to lunch by several of the professors, Michael had one last meeting with a student, and then we headed back to the airport again.   This time we were able to get a few photos of the ocean…..

Next time we come, we will definitely have to do a bit of paddling here so that we can say that we have been in yet another of the earth’s oceans.

We were late leaving the Institute and were afraid that we might miss our flight but everyone at the airport was kind and efficient and we made it with enough time to get something to drink before we took off. 

All in all, our visit to Trivandrum was absolutely perfect.  Everyone we met was kind and wanted to know if we had a good trip and then invited us to return again…..we plan to!!!!

On Monday (the 21st), Michael gave a seminar at NCBS and then we hopped onto a plane from Bangalore to Pune.  Pune is the 9th largest city in India and is in the state of Maharashtra.  It is located in the Central Western part of India.

We have been flying on Indigo Airlines, supposedly one of the best in India.  We have been impressed with their crew, staff and facilities.  The planes have all been on time and baggage handling has been exceptional….ie…..all of our bags arrived at each destination!!!

We have now learned a few other things about domestic travel.  First of all, you have to send your checked bag thru security before you get your boarding pass.  When they check it, they put a twist tie thru the zipper pulls and cover it with a stamped tag.

Likewise, you have to put a baggage tag on all of your carry-on baggage and it is stamped when you go thru security.   These tags are checked once or twice as you board the plane.

For the most part, there are no announcements in the airports.  As the attendants arrive at the gate, people just start lining up!!

Most of the flights that we have done were in and out of smaller airports so we have taken a bus or walked to the plane and then entered via a steep ramp.  They had various slogans written on the ramp including “stairway to 30,000 feet”, and one had a sign just that you saw as you stepped out of the plane door that said “Welcome to Earth”!!

On one of the buses, we ended up trailing behind a slow moving tractor on the tarmac and asked the question “Do they honk on the tarmac?” and were answered with a resounding “YES” as the bus driver sat down on the horn.

Our flight to Pune was uneventful and we were picked up by a driver from the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER).  He took us to our room at the guest house and we thankfully fell into bed for the night.

In the morning we found our way to breakfast and met this wonderful gentleman who made sure that we had plenty to eat….

Each morning had a selection of national delicacies as well as good old buttered toast and jelly!!!  We normally had a mixture of both.

I was excited to see this design in the dining room….. 

Just last week I ordered the book “Millefiori Quilts” which is all about piecing these types of designs.   Now I cant wait to get home and look at the book!!!

After breakfast we walked outside to have a look around.  The guest house and conference center is situated in the center of campus with all other buildings easily accessible

It is built around an open courtyard…..

….with a childcare facility located in one corner of the ground floor.

I loved this artistic quartet which adorned one of the walls…..

On Tuesday night, the students had organized to have dinner with Michael and myself and we were ushered into the Faculty canteen and given a scrumptious meal…..

…followed by some of the best ice cream that I have ever tasted…..

It is called Matkakulfi and is similar to ice cream in appearance and taste however it is denser and creamier.

It was nice sitting at the table with the kids and we were the only ones in the room so it was easy for everyone to talk and be heard.  The students were super sweet and we had a wonderful time with them although much of the conversation was scientific in nature.   However, while Michael talked Science with them, I tried to learn about their lives and desires.  It was a fun night…..

On Wednesday morning, I walked with Michael to the Science complex…..

It is a gorgeous building……

…once again built around an open courtyard, but this one contained a beautiful manicured landscape…..

The main reason for my visit was to see several very special pieces of Central Indian Tribal art that hung in the building.

The first were two pieces done in the  “Warli” style…..

Here is a description that I found on a website  about Indian tribal art.……

“Warli painting is an art form that was first conceived by the Warli tribe, residing in mountainous as well as coastal regions of Gujarat and Maharashtra border and surrounding areas. The paintings are traditionally done on house walls in white over brown background. The white pigment is rice mixed with water and gum and the ochre shade was achieved because of the cow-dung plastered mud walls. Their subject commonly depicts narratives from tribal life and presents common village rituals, allude to religious practices and deify gods and goddesses. However, the figures are extremely rudimentary and the composition is achieved with the help of variations in the basic shapes: circle, triangle and square. Despite the fact that the paintings usually adorn the inner walls of mud houses, yet their study shall convey interesting narratives about the hardships of rural life, religious beliefs and tribal ideologies. The tragedy of the loss of the commons also often finds its way into the narratives of the paintings.”

The other piece was an example of Gond Tribal art….

More information from the website…..

“Like Warli paintings, Gond art also originated by attempts of the tribal communities to decorate the walls and floor which later transposed onto paper and canvasses.  The pigments are organically extracted and the paintings are easily recognizable because of the recurrent use of dashes, dots and vibrant colours to compose images. The characteristic motifs of Gond art are surreal images that have origin in mythology of the tribe and the experiences of their interactions with the world. These paintings have succeeded in recording the histories of a people who have often relied on oral sources for handing down of narratives.”

Here is a close-up showing the use of lines in the painting…..

Michael fell in love with the painting and wishfully asked Shashi (his host) if he could take it home as an honorarium……

Shashi respectfully declined, but later produced a small silk piece that is reminiscent of the art…..

I continued walking with my head pointed to the ground and found this pattern in one of the walkways.  It looks fairly random, but I think that there are some fun patterns that could be made with fabrics!!!

I returned to the Guest house to pack for our next journey, but had to stop and take a photo of our shower……

It was nicely glassed in and the water was hot.  If we just could have moved the toilet out it would have been perfect!!!

We were treated to lunch by Sutirth who took us to a Kebab place.  He asked if we ate meat and we hungrily assured him that we did.  As we walked up to the restaurant, we passed a veterinary store and Michael ensured that he knew that there were CERTAIN meats that we didn’t want to eat!!!

The meal was simple with each Kabob being brought separately along with mouth watering Tandoori Naan.  The food was served on metal trays with the water in heavy copper glasses…..

Dessert arrived…..

and we asked if you removed it from the leaves.  Sutirth assured us that you ate it leaf and all, popping the entire thing in his mouth to prove the point.   I ate mine in stages so that I could photograph the filling.   It was dense and gooey and really tasty although I have NO idea what the filling was made of…..

The check arrived in this cute box and the money to pay was placed in it as well and returned to the server….

As we were waiting for our ride, I noticed this cart advertising “Snakes Center”….

I asked Sutirth if they really served snakes and he laughed and said “no…that is SNACKS”!!!   We all had a good laugh at it.

At this point, Michael finally got his wish to ride in a Rickshaw.   We waited for the car to pick us up but were concerned that we needed to be heading to the airport very soon so Sutirth hailed a Rickshaw for our transport.   Unfortunately the driver missed the turn into the campus and proceeded to make a 25 point U-Turn into on-coming traffic. Remember that a Rickshaw has no reverse gear so he would pull forward a few inches and then let it rock back into the curb!!   I started videoing when we were perpendicular to the curb…..enjoy……

https://youtu.be/IS6sSNMAUg0

So, as it ended up, Michael got a Rickshaw ride AND a near death experience all at the same time!!!!

 

We left the area that had small roads and houses and entered into a more commercial area of the district.   I like these two buildings and the curves that they included in the structures adding more interest to the architecture of the area….

We passed this large Ganesha that has a light show associated with it….

It would certainly be interesting to see it at night!!

We proceeded down another alleyway and Rashid stopped to tell me about where we were going next.  I took the opportunity to get a photo of him (and his VERY heavy backpack)…..

As we talked, I started hearing an incessant tapping in the background making me realize that we were entering the “Coopersmith area”.    As I laughed about the fact that I could hear it before I saw it, Rashid told me that there is a bird called a “Coppersmith Barbet” whose call makes this same sound and that, if there were a bunch of them around, it would sound just like what I was hearing.

The Coppersmiths were first invited to the area to make money…literally to make coins.  Unfortunately, the money changed over time with more paper money being printed and eventually copper was no longer used.  So, the Coppersmiths turned to making vessels for use in homes and businesses.

The first gentleman that we talked to was happily tapping on a copper pot but stopped to show us what he was doing…..

His next door neighbor was also working on a pot and this photo better shows the art of their work….

Note the placement of his feet and how he uses his legs to help hold the pot and to turn it as he taps.    Here is a video that shows them both in action…..

https://youtu.be/UhxnFcaU6vg

What I couldn’t figure out was exactly how they were holding the pot steady.  This was revealed when he took the pot off and showed a metal plate that the pot rests on while the hammering is taking place.  In this way, the copper is being hammered from both sides at the same time, making it very strong.

In this photo he is rubbing the hammer on a surface to shine it up and you will notice that the “stirrup” on the metal bar is also very slick and shiny.  This is done so that there will not be any image “stamped” onto the pot.

And then it was MY turn to try it….. 

My first problem was that my legs were TOO long to put into place to steady the pot, much less using my foot to turn the pot so the master helped to steady it while I tapped away.   My first taps were too light but when I put a little muscle into it I was actually able to get an even finish.   I asked if I could come back and get a job working for them???

We headed down yet another narrow alley with the plan to visit an older man who was a Master Coppersmith…… 

Unfortunately, he was in the US at the moment, giving workshops to future smiths, but his workshop was still open and being used by his assistants.

There was a table full of partially finished works and starts of new projects….

It reminded me a bit of my cutting table at home!!!

This pot would be too narrow to fit over the “stirrup” and if they started tapping on it without any support, it would cave in on itself.   To fix this, the pot is filled with wax which provides a strong base for the smithy work.  After the design is finished, the wax is heated and melted out of the pot.

And of course, there were things to purchase in the workshop so a couple of these beautiful pieces came home with me…..

We were allowed into the main workshop for this Smith and Rashid “mimed” the process used to prepare the pots.  He starts with flat pieces of copper which are cut into approximate sizes…..Then a collapsible wooden mold is placed on the left spindle  and the large screwdriver-looking tool is used to bend the copper sheeting around the mold…

The finished shapes are fired to give them strength and put thru an acid wash. 

After the designs are tapped/etched on the piece, they are fired again, washed again and then lacquered.  The resulting piece is magnificent!!!

I asked what these pots were…..

….and found out that they were used to hydrate the wooden molds so that they wouldn’t dry out and crack.

I reluctantly left this area with Rashid’s backpack bulging a bit more!!

We passed this beautiful woman washing her clothes on a rock outside of her home and, of course, I asked to take a photo.   Once again, she straightened her outfit and then bent back to her work.  I think that there may be a slight smile on her face…..

We visited one last Coppersmith who is working with a government program which helps to subsidize the work.   He was making gorgeous copper leaves, starting with the forms shown below…..

While we were in the shop, this gentleman was doing the final polishing on the leaves…..

You can see the difference between these two leaves….

I picked up the one on the right and it was still very warm from the polishing!!  Unfortunately these were not for sale but they were certainly beautiful!!!

Next stop was to an aluminum pot maker who was using the same basic technique…..

 

We arrived in a courtyard that was filled with people and I was informed that this is one of the most important areas for the Ganesh festival and that this particular Ganesha has been named as the “Presiding Diety” and will be the one to lead the parades on the day that they are taken to be released to the water.

Across from this shrine is the Kasba Ganesh Temple.  The story of this temple is that some boys were working as shepherds in the field and found a stone in which they saw the image of Ganesh.  They returned often to worship at the stone and an important  local woman was impressed by their devotion.  In 1636, she caused the temple to be erected on this spot, making it the oldest Ganesh temple.

When we entered the temple, there was a HUGE, multi-colored Rangoli just inside the entrance.  Rashid mentioned that the creator of the Rangoli must be very proud of it as he added his phone number into the design.  Nothing like a bit of free advertising!!!

Rashid also gave some insight into the current Ganesh festival.   It was celebrated many years ago but the tradition had died out.   Then when the British were ruling India, they passed a ban to keep the Indian people from publically gathering in large groups.  As a way around this, they “revived” this festival to give them a “religious” reason for the gathering.

I stood in line to see the Ganesh and was treated to this sight (not my photo)….

You have to really use your imagination to see the Ganesh!!!

We hopped in one more Rickshaw and headed for our last sight of the day.   As we rode he warned me that it officially closed at 1:00, but depending on who was on guard duty, we might be allowed in.   Apparently the correct guard was there because the doors were opened and we were welcomed in!!!

This was the Vishrambagh Wada, a large mansion built in 1807.  It was inhabited by several different residents and then was taken over by the British.  In 1871, the entire Eastern wing of the wada was destroyed by fire and reconstruction did not start until the 1930’s.  They are slowly refurbishing this beautiful building, but have no definite plans as to what it will be used for when it is finished. 

We entered a wonderful courtyard and I enjoyed thinking about how it would have looked in its glory days…..

Rashid told me that the word vishram meant relaxation or rest so he suggested that we do exactly that…..have a cup of tea and some homemade biscuits (cookies)…..

I hadn’t realized until then that I was actually tired and a bit hungry.  I had simply been too engrossed earlier to even think about it!!!!

After two cups of tea and a number of cookies, we reluctantly left the Kasba Peth and found a Rickshaw to take us back to Rashid’s car. 

He apologized for having to “cut the tour short” in order to pick up his daughter from school, but I certainly didn’t feel slighted at all.  I had spent almost 7 hours exploring one of the sweetest areas of India and was left with memories that will be with me until I am old and grey!!!

Oh….Michael was appropriately jealous of my time, but good-naturedly checked out all of my photos and listened to my description of the day.  He did, however, tell me that I wasn’t allowed to go with him on the next fun adventure but instead had to “sit on the bed and think about what I had done wrong”…..such is life!!!