Things I See Along the Way

My commute to work is usually about 45 minutes.  I have subscribed to the Times of India.  It's a pretty good newspaper.  Well written with a pretty good editorial page.  It provides a good indo-view of the world.  Some mornings I barely look at the paper.  I'm too busy watching the sites. Some mornings I even take my camera and try to capture some of what I am seeing.  I am discreet because folks in this part of the world don't like to have their pictures taken.  Since this is a culture prone to mob violence I would hate to snap something while stalled in traffic and start a riot.  I'm pretty sure that's an exaggeration but still I am discreet.  This fascination with the sights along the way will likely end before my tenure is up and I will go back to the paper in earnest.

I see things from time-to-time that make me stop and think.  My Indian friends have all told me that I will see things I am not accoustomed to.  That has certainly been true.  Here are a few pix I snapped a couple of commutes ago.

This shot has provoked a lot of thought.  I have looked back on it several times.  This woman looks poor.  But she also looks defiant.  She looks in charge and appears to have the power of 10,000 gods, to quote a line from Bukowski.  I had to wonder if she lived in that tent in the background.

Building projects are unusual.  Here is an example.  This is a closeup shot of a scaffold.  It is constructed out of sticks that are apparently bound together by hand.  I see a lot of construction sites where excavation is going on by hand, one shovel-full at a time and carried away in what looks like a small wok on top of a woman's head.  I am told that anything in India that involves people is cheap.

This is a common site.  There are a lot of little stalls on the side of the road, sometimes they almost seem as though they are set up in traffic.  They are constructed of lots of different things.  Blue tarps are common.  This one seems up scale with its cotton canvas covering.

People do not like to have their pictures taken.  In the top photo I had the window rolled down and they saw that I was taking their pictures.  Later on in the bottom photo we had snuck up on them.  They look despondant to me.  They are riding in the back of a truck, probablly on their way to carry dirt at a building project or sort garbage on Brigade road.  Who knows?

I snapped this because of what this guy was carrying on the back of a scooter.  I don't know what it is.  Maybe a fender.  I should start a series devoted to the stuff I see on scooters and three-wheelers.  I have seen pieces of furniture, great stacks of firewood, piles of large white sacks containing who knows what. 

This next picture shows a building we go by every morning.  I snapped this because of the triangular windows.  I think that is unusual and likely a hindu influence on the architecture. 

And finally this. She is here every morning selling fruit.