Lage Raho Munna Bhai

I know it has been a while since I “checked-in”, but to be honest I’ve been sort of busy and not a great deal has been happening.
I suppose it is because I am settling in to where I am living.
I did manage to have a night out. I did not however manage to meet another European though I was not that bothered. I ended up in an Indian rock bar listening to Pink Floyd and the Brothers in Arms album on a loop. It was strange seeing the distinctive Indian “head-wobble” being adapted to western rock.

....they use a wobble instead of a nod for yes….well actually it is not really yes, more of an agreement, a positive ok, an acknowledgment and the bigger the wobble the higher the expression of agreement or respect...

Anyway, I ended up chatting to a 3 Indian fellas, one of which was from New York and a trader coming back home to Bangalore to set up a hedge fund. He was at the London JPM office 2 weeks ago, small world.
He was actually a bit of an arrogant nob to be honest, but still interesting and stimulating.
He was from the Bremen caste, the highest caste, they have a bit of a reputation for thinking they are above everyone else and their history suggests they are more than mean. Saying this I have met others (Drs teachers, priests) that are more modern and not so insecure and actually very nice.
Anyway back to the night out. All in all it was a welcome break and I’m pretty sure the waiters never saw anyone setting fire to a table cloth before.

The day after was the main day of a 15 day festival. Originally they used to worship special weapons by wrapping them I leaves and tying nice coloured flowers around them. Now adays in the modern world, they do it to anything they want to worship, I mean inanimate objects. Favorites are cars, motorbikes, light switches, computers, and the new big one "mobile phones". I really should have taken some pictures sorry, the roads looked pretty freaky and good.
Basically it amounts to a collective appreciation of the things people own and their thanks for how they help them in their daily life.

This is a pic of Sona, Maheshs 3 yr old son. I am Craig-Uncle and he can now speak quite a bit of English. All good words of course , like
Uncle Busy, Uncle working, Ouuh hoooo, Yes, Correct, Laptop, fan, clock, shut-it, later, not now, how are you, this is bananna.

Also I forget to wish everyone “Happy Gandhi Day”. It was the great mans birthday on 2nd October. There has been a bit of a revival of his ideas mainly captured by a new Movie called “Lage Raho Munna Bhai”. We tried to get in but it was far too popular and the touts wanted double face value. ( 1pound 40 instead of 70p), so we of course refused on the grounds of “one people one nation” as the great man would have wanted. I also found out that Gandhi was not in fact wearing an adult sized nappy, but it was a traditional skirt-thing that men wear, turned up and tucked in so they can walk properly, called a Dhothi.


In a little over a week it will be the BIGGY of festivals “Deepavali”, the festival of dreams. Should be fun and I’ll be sure to take some snaps.

I have started playing badminton in the mornings to get a bit of exercise. BUT I banged my toe and had to stop for a few days. Not quite sky diving or snowboarding or jumping of roofs into swimming pools, but when in Rome.

I almost forgot, we got trapped in a huge traffic jam yesterday. It turned out a large crowd was blocking the road to look at a dead body in a ditch. I wanted to stop and take pictures but probably for the best that I didn’t.

As I am writing this we have just seen a young woman who is wondering why it is difficult for her to conceive. Turns out her husband is also her 1st cousin. A common problem in some communities. Don’t worry Nathalie I’m not taking on all customs.