mindless mumbai

while dining at firangi dhaba. eat here once, for the sake of the place - film posters, cut outs of film stars, kitschy india-flavoured art and a very loud welcoming-dhol. food is just about ok. and true to its name, the food best caters to a certain segment.

have been working on the bangalore project of the exchange program all day. friday is the final jury and exhibition. the day has been spent in filling plans with textures, lines, shades, stairs, greens etc

in the photo: the atrium of the circular building in the nehru science centre complex at worli - the one that hosts the ‘discovery of india’ exhibit. its also one of the few public buildings with a generous atrium space

photo id: 4195

when one story ends, the other one will surely begin; probably not as soon as we’d desire but not as late as we’d imagine either…

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the blog isn’t quite what i want it to be yet, but nevertheless, i felt that it was a good time to get back to posting photos. i shall continue to work on the template, hopefully. mindless mumbai has been pretty much out of action since the last few months - its actually been around 6 months since the regularly posts stopped. i am not even in mumbai at present, but still feel the desire to get back to regular posting. perhaps its the fact that i’m not going to be in mumbai for the remainder of the year that is pushing me to get back to posting pics - this is as good a time as any other. also, even though i am not going to be in mumbai till jan 2010 - save for a week at the end of may - i’m going to rely entirely on my archive of mumbai images to feed the post. ofcourse, i shall try to match the photo to what i’ve experienced during that day / to what my mood has been / to the situations, people and places that i’ve encountered or to those that i’ve been remembering…

as you can see, the blog is in a bit of shambles. the structural changes are done, but the walls have to be put up. then will come the paint and finally the inhabitants. till then, do bear with the in-completeness and visit www.mindlessmumbai.blogspot.com for the older blog

i was at the versova koli seafood a few days ago, to cover it for mumbai mirror online. and this display in front of one of the stalls caught my eye. now krishna isn’t usually associated with the fishing community. what’s even more surprising is this particular form of krishna, with the arm raised up is referred to as shri nathji, and it’s a popular vaishnavaite sect amongst gujaratis, marwaris, kutchis and some sindhis; with the main temple at nathdwara, near udaipur in rajasthan. the worship of shri nathji is quite limited to these groups, and it’s rare to find the icon anywhere other than vaishnav havelis. i wonder what’s the connection between the link between the kolis and shri nathji.

at the rally at gateway of india - regal cinema. whether you walked, held a placard, sloganeered or lit a candle, your very presence counted.

i considered using some other image for the post - the rows of lit up candles are specially photogenic; but this photo better represents the mood today.

more photos and a couple of short videos (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) on facebook.

the taj mahal palace and tower - the most iconic of the sites of mumbai’s terror mayhem. a singular blogpost won’t even scratch the surface of the anger, questions and emotions here.

regards to everyone who enquired about our well being over the last week. friends and family are all safe. though like many others, we know of some people who were gunned down. peace.