Cows in the road

What do you mean move?

Guest house

The guesthouse near Metcalfe's house is mostly in ruins.  No ceilings left.  Crumbling walls.  Vandalism all over. 

At one time, it must have been a pretty nice place to stay during one of Metcalfe's monsoon season parties.  I imagine the guests were treated pretty well.

These days, the only guest around is this cow who has made itself at home in one of the back rooms.

So much for the grandeur of Metcalfe's day.

Animals in the road I: Cows

I never get bored of taking note of the animals in the road here in India.  So here is the beginning of a short series on what animals are to be found on the streets of Jaipur.

Part 1:  Cows.
The cows stand everywhere and anywhere they like.  Traffic just accepts the need to go around them, and go on like it's nothing.  The cows also act like this is nothing. 
It is nothing, right?

Shopping cows

There are cows at the mall.

The absurdities of real life--stranger than fiction.

Taking care of the lawn

Every time I visit the Taj, I see different lawn manicuring techniques.

There's been the reel push lawn mower.

The cow mower.

And this time it was the scissors.

Delivery

How else did you think the stuff got to the store?

Delivery by zebu, of course.

Cow on a pillar

The Kansas City Stockyards: where you'd come to buy and sell your cows. Where cows became beef.
The giant cow marks the spot.

Here's a little bit of history trivia for you today.
Sixteen railroad lines converged here in Kansas City because this is the place you wanted to be if beef was your line of business. Bring the cows, sell the cows, slaughter the cows, pack the meat, and ship 'em out again.

The reason I took note of the stockyard area is not only because there's a giant statue of a cow high above the tree line, but also because it's kind of horrifying compared to the holy cow-ness of India. I've not seen a cow on a pillar here, but I wouldn't be surprised to--and for entirely different and religious reasons.

The cow--to eat it or to worship it.

Actually, I suppose there are those in America who "worship" their steak, burgers, bbq ribs...

Cow on a pillar. Thought-provoking.

The cruise with views

One of the best things about the houseboat, is that all I had to do was sit there and the sights and pictures came to me--how nice is that?

In the backwaters, you get to see a lot of things.
I made a list:

Cows
Buffalo
Birds
Backyards
Laundry
Construction
Trucks
Store fronts
Pretty painted houses
Rice fields
Floating plants
Palm trees
Bananas
Fishermen
Reflections
Sunsets

Pink people

There are pink people walking around today.
Why?
Because yesterday was Holi and they threw paint at each other.
Either it doesn't wash off easily...or they didn't try to wash it off.
There are also pink cows, dogs, streets and autos.
I guess it disappears after the next rain.

Wouldn't believe it

I saw a calf with horns and part of a second head on its backside.
It was the weirdest thing. I don't know why anyone would believe me that I really saw such a thing. And I didn't have my camera handy to document it, since I was fresh off the plane and it was still packed away.
I was in the taxi passing what I thought was the usual sight of Hindu-girl-parading-decorated-calf, but it turned out to be different than the usual.
My incredulity and jet lag delirium were so great, that I can't even be sure myself that it was real.
And I can't prove it was.
Now that I think of it, that's a pretty good metaphor for my whole existence here in Delhi: Is that real? Did I truly just see what I think I saw?
I wouldn't believe that even if I did just see it myself.

From the car window

Here are a couple of new street scenes, as seen from the car window.

Free range cows

Where is the best grazing?

It would be interesting to ask the cows.

There's a cow and her calf who seem to like the edges of my driveway.

There must be some choice greens around the transformer where a sheep once got fried. (Roasted lamb and no power for the surrounding houses for several days.)

As you can see, the animals are still permitted to graze near it.

But their favorite is the trash heap, because that's where I see them every day.

Pipe technique

This is how you fix a leaky pipe.

Until you get a chance to fix it as well as this.

And that might work for a few days.

And this is where you put the pipes you haven't needed for the last 15 years.

Just make sure you don't block the road or the cows' grazing.