Metro museum

 This is the guy that started it all.
A mannequin at the metro, with his hand extended in greeting.
.
Did you know there's a museum within the metro line system?  I stumbled into it one day--literally, because I fell down the stairs...okay, so it was the escalator...embarassing...
Anyhow.

So I landed in the station and saw this guy--this was no ordinary metro station.  There were displays!

That day there was no time to look around and this was my first chance to come back.

The metro museum.
It's not big.  It's not super exciting.
But to walk around underground in the airconditioning is kind of nice.

Photography, though, is not allowed here.
So I have done you the favor of taking all the prohibited photos on your behalf.

 Welcome.
This girl is the mascot.
Her picture and greeting is on most metro stations somewhere.

The metro has been thirty years in the making.  Thirty.  Wow.  Talk about Indian time.

The metro has even won itself an award in the shape of the Qutub Minar.  I'm not sure if they didn't award it to themselves, but it's cool nonetheless.

So if your looking for a short walk around the metro, get off at Patel Chowk and see what there is to see.  It won't take you very long.
....and be careful on the escalator.

Stop terrorism

I've pointed out some of the mannequins before, I know.
This one, though, has a message about something other than fashion.

This small, plastic kid tied to a stool had a sign around his neck with descriptions of the suspects the police are searching for in connection with the bombing at the Delhi High Court.

This is what it says:
दिल्ली उच्चा न्यायालय में दिनांक 07-09-2011 को हुए बोम धमाके में संदिग्ध व्यक्ति जिनकी दिल्ली पोलिस को तलाश है
उम्र लगभग 26 साल, लम्बा, कद 5 फुट 9 इन्च
उम्र लगभग 50 साल, हल्की दाड़ी, रंग सॉवला मजबूत जिस्म
वालो में मांग निकले हुए

Have you seen them? The investigations are still happening.

I guess it's the shopkeeper's own small efforts at taking a stand against terrorism. I'm not sure how effective it is...
But it did catch my attention.

Fake and real

I drove through a part of the city today where they were setting up this strange display.

Talk about crazy mannequin sightings.

This is my favorite: Can you spot which one is the real thing?

Scary mannequin exposé

This is an exposé on the scary mannequin's inhabiting the bazaars of Delhi. I've known small children to cry when they see some of them.

There are the sad children of war...

There's Miss Molded-head, who changes her clothes with the times but not her hair. Not to mention that she feels terribly marginalized because she looks nothing like the Indian women for whom she is modeling those clothes...

Miss Fallen, who has landed on her face so many times that her nose is scarred and she hides under her hat...

The dancing instructor--"Where should my feet go?"

And not to be left out: The freakishly excited, armless bride and her melancholy, bald bridesmaid.

Kid friendly

Oh, the things kids are allowed to do here. Oh what they get away with at the malls.
Here is my small friend climbing on the store displays, talking to the mannequin, and playing with the decorations.

Adults are tolerant and eager to please children. There is a greater value placed on them as people, as an investment, as the future, than I find in the US.

As a child, I remember pushing strollers around in the Gerber factory store whenever I went there. One employee lady didn't want my brother and I to do that. I thought she was mean. I only liked to go the store when the nice lady was working. It was no fun to worry about being yelled at, but how could you know ahead of time who was going to be working any given day?

Well, here, my small friend doesn't have to worry about that. He can get away with anything.
Just see how big his smile is.