100%

This car is 100% vegetarian.

This writer finds that 100% amusing.

Graffiti artist

 There's a graffiti artist along this road.
I travel this way just frequently enough that I notice he adds new paintings every now and then.

Probably there's more than one graffiti painter, as they aren't all of equal quality.

Some of them aren't much to look at.
But others are truly works of art, with a message to tell.

I thought it was kind of fun to get the auto driver to stop so I could take photos.  What was I doing?  Why would I want to stop in this place--there was a wall on both sides of the road?
He was confused the first few times.
But I was paying him enough that he just stopped and waited wherever I asked.

It made for an interesting outting.
So I suggest stopping to appreciate their work, if you see some.

No toll

I find it slightly obnoxious when there are highway signs with so much information on them that it's impossible to read them in the less-than-a-minute-before-you-pass-them time frame.
This one just might win the prize.
It's the complete list of who is exempt from the national highway toll.

Well.
There's a reason for why it pays to be a V.I.P.
Highway tolls.

I don't know what to think of that. Especially as it's posted, to point out to all the rest of us that we are not cabinet ministers, chief justices, foreign dignitaries, awardees of Param Vir Chakra, or on-duty fire fighters.

Something about this lacks common sense. Or humility.

Perhaps it's a way of limiting abuse of the system. As in: "If you're not on the list, you're not getting by for free."
It seems that anyone with a "government vehicle" wants to get through, and some of those government convoys can be long.

Signs along the road: interesting food for thought.

Scratching monuments

Apparently monument scratching is something we need to be concerned about.

I had no idea.

Save Dal

There are a lot of "save Dal" signs around the lake.
This is one of the most conviction stirring I've seen.
Kashmir's nickname is "paradise on earth"--or translated here as "heaven".
Hell would be a place of pollution. I guess.

There are conservation efforts happening around the lake; it's just hard to see any result.

I suppose, if there is a lot of signage, it's only because there is a lot to be saved.

No littering...soon

This article caught my attention:
MCD plans new, stricter anti-littering law soon.

News to me: there are already laws against spitting, littering and urinating in public!?
No way. When are those enforced?

If there are fines against demolition and construction waste lying around, the city of Delhi has to fine itself.

This sentence is funny to me: "Besides, all the pet owners who let their pets out into the streets to litter would be charged R500 by the civic body."
The pets are the ones throwing the trash around--of course! Those sneaky pet owners. Why waste time teaching your dog to fetch, when he could be the one to take out the trash. ;)

Strategic signage

There are new Commonwealth signs all over the city. Some of them are very clever, like these Delhi ones:


Some of them are funny. A silent Delhi? Road code? Ha ha ha.

And some of them are strategic.
You see, Delhi was not finished with all the preparations in time for the games. Things are not quite as clean as hoped. So what I have noticed is that there are rows and rows of bright colored new CWG signs lining the streets. I used to see piles of sand, stacks of bricks, broken car parts, unfinished construction, and gutters full of trash in these same places.
It's not that it has all been cleaned up, but it is hidden behind the new signs.
Interesting strategy.

How long do these signs stay up, I wonder?

I hope that those in charge of this particular "clean city" move keep in mind that a white-washed sandcastle is still made of dirt.

Blue

First, the blue sign:
There is all sorts of new signage going up around the city. Commonwealth Games promotion.
...they are coming...
...14 days, 1 hour and 58 minutes...

Secondly, the blue sky:
I would have cropped this picture to focus in on the sign, but the friend who took it text-yelled at me not to. The blue sky is monumental, she said.
And well, yes, it is.
We've had several days of no rain, but it's back again today.
And so are the leaks and water spots on the wall.
So a sunny blue sky is a beautiful sight.

Zombie eyes

What was I thinking?
Four hours of Hindi class every day? How can I maintain that pace?

I saw the back of this bus on my way to class today. The before and after look of an intensive Hindi language student.
The boy on the right looks fairly normal, but the girl student on the left has scary zombie eyes. Yes, it looks just as if she's been in four hours of language class.

In case you can't see the zombie-eyed look, here is a close up.

Oh sure, I'm learning things and all, and it's good to put time and effort into something as important as learning Hindi.
But I might have jumped in the deep end without being certain that I remember how to swim.
Oops.
Life preserver, please?

I heart traffic rules

I saw this slogan imprinted on road barriers along a stretch of highway today: I heart traffic rules.
Will such signage really engender such an affection for traffic rules that people will really obey them?

Wait a minute--there are traffic rules?

You don't

No, people-from-the-bank-in-India-who-put-out-this-mat-in-front-of-the-entrance, you don't.
You really couldn't possibly.

100%

You knew that already, didn't you?

Dog signs

I'd never seen signs like this before my visit to the coast of California.
Individualized to different dogs and their owners.
Funny.
California is a crazy place. ;)

WOmen at work

The sign (though admittedly difficult to see) reads "Men at Work". Yet, if you notice, the women are the active ones.
These women stacking bricks on their heads continue to fascinate me.

Immigrating

Some friends picked me up in a taxi today to go to lunch. I am reminded how nice it is to ride in a car. No jolting. No wind. No exhaust fumes.

So on my trip out, I passed the Republic of Chicken. Very clever sign on the door.
Conversely, when you leave you are 'emigrating'.
No passport necessary, though.
Not exactly a vegetarian friendly 'country', but amusing nonetheless.

Inventive vocabulary

Here's a new word for you: upgradation. Did you know you could make up words and put them on signs throughout the city?
Happens all the time.
The AnswerTips vocabulary feature on this page (which is awesome--double click on any word and check it out) doesn't recognize the word. It will give you no helpful information. Try the word 'inventive', though--it will even tell you how to pronounce it.
Nothin' for 'upgradation.
But: that doesn't stop the construction folk from digging a hole in the ground and putting up a sign about it so they can go away and leave it there unattended for a week.

The gas is gone

My propane cylinders I use for the stove are empty.
I need a new "connection". Getting one is a tedious process, especially since government offices are involved. This morning I went out to get that process started.
The cycle rickshaw driver thought he could find a different gas office in a different neighborhood and we spent about forty minutes riding around looking for it, before he finally arrived at the original destination asked for. I felt bad for him, pedaling so long. But I also didn't because it was his own fault for trying to find a short cut and not take me where I wanted to go.
By the time we reached the gas company office, it was 1:16pm. Lunch time. The office was mostly deserted, but there was a woman who said to come back at two o'clock with the proper paper work (which I had in my bag). She wouldn't help me then.
I noticed a sign in the office. I'm wondering if it's true... Making me come back in forty-five minutes does not seem like something that is for my "convenience".
I got change for the cycle driver by buying potato chips from a small snack store and went to a Tibetan restaurant to eat momos.
Then I returned to the office and submitted my paperwork. I was told that "between a month" someone would come to inspect my home. Then I could have a gas connection. If I pass inspection.
I should.
I think.
I submitted all the paperwork. And what about my "satisfaction"?

Almost

There is no water yet, but maybe by the end of my birthday in a US time zone?

I guess there was an outstanding bill with the government water agency because they assumed someone was living in the apartment, using water and not paying the bill. The landlord went to their office and straightened that out. A pump was connected to the pipes and hopefully tomorrow morning when the pump can be turned on, water will start filling the pipes.
Hoping hoping.
That was amazing fast, really. Quite possibly miraculous.

On other fronts, we tried to get a few other things done for the apartment. Almost bought a slab of marble for the counter top. Almost bought some needed plywood. Almost got the junk and old furniture moved out of the flat. Traffic jams were the problem. At least today the markets we needed were open.

Along the way I saw something interesting. Some men were putting up signboards. Maybe the picture can help explain why cranes are falling on cars. There was an article about it just yesterday. It's not a crane they're using to put up the signboards, but it does show the lack of safety precautions.

Went to see a waterfall

I went with some friends to go see some waterfalls.
There were a lot more stairs involved in this trip than I thought there'd be. In fact, it was labeled as a 'fitness test'.

But the sign for those stairs said, "No climbing". It also said "no sharking" so we didn't take it too seriously, as there were no sharks in sight.
On the way there, we passed an interesting sight on a motorbike. Maybe they were going to the falls to swim?
We passed another rather frightening sign. How, I want to know, are those puny little sticks going to hold up that massive rock from falling on us?

Cocoa Boutique

Today we went to the Cocoa Boutique. We were hoping to see a chocolate factory, but it was just a showroom. But--and this was good--there were samples of lots of different kinds of chocolate. Mmmm.
White chocolate. Dark chocolate. Milk chocolate.
Chocolate covered hazelnut.
Chocolate covered almond.
Chocolate covered cranberry.
Chocolate covered coconut.
Chocolate covered pineapple.
Chocolate covered durian.
They had it all. And I tried as many samples as I could.
Yummy.