Berlin

rock garden

This morning I visited a rock garden made from recycled junk. Rows of beady-eyed statues gaze at you around every corner.

All portals are small enough that you have to really duck down to get through. It follows a twisting path through waterfalls and tiny passageways.

This is probably my last post in India. I leave in two days for Berlin and some serious culture shock. I'll miss the unique brand of oddity here.

sick building syndrome.

Advertisements for a course in "Scientific and Architectural Vastu" taught by a "Gold Medalist in Sick Building Syndrome". Basically the same thing I do, with a different name.

chandigarh - le corbusier

what happens if you stay in Rishikesh too long

We went to a spot down-river to witness a sunset ceremony at the Ganges. People gathered around a statue of Shiva in the water sat in orange robes around a fire ceremony with spectators on the periphery.

One white lady partook in the ceremony in a very unique way, doing some weird interpretive dance.

She seemed like an evolved form of the twenty-some-year-old who wanders around in strange hairdos and pants with the crotch at the knee, attending various yoga classes for months on end.

monkeys II

Monkeys and humans coexist in Laxman Jhula with little conflict, as it seems.


The one photo shows a monkey that raided our room for food while i was sleeping with the door open. He's tearing open a pack of Masala Munch (like spicy Cheetos) outside our room.

hike in the himalayas

during a 5-hour downhill hike in the Himalays near Rishikesh, we passed a few children herding their cows uphill...

sunrise in the Himalayas

it's been harder for me to manage computer access lately, for reasons including blackouts, a 36-hour train ride from Goa to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal... and no I'm not posting photos of it. I think it's better left to the imagination and to the billions of other photos of it already in existence.), and today a city-wide strike in Laxman Jhula kept me away from the computer. But some stores opened their doors a few hours ago.

Anyway, Anita and I are in a pilgrimage town in the foothills of the Himalayas and on the Ganges river. We woke up at 4:15am for a hike beginning on these mountaintops at sunrise...

My time in India is winding down. Swimming in the ice-cold river, taking a yoga class here and there, and watching the sun rise and set every day.

from the train ride up to Rishikesh...

BOLLYWOOD!

I rearranged my plans in Mumbai after being offered a part as an extra in a Bollywood film...

Anita had headed on to Gokarna, a lovely beach town 12 hours south by train, while I soaked up more of the city. While wandering around Colaba, the most touristy sector of Bombay, a casting guy approached me and offered me a part. I turned up at the designated meeting place the next morning and was whisked away in a large, air-conditioned van to Bollywood along with a few other girls of my approximate height, weight, coloration...

They handed each of us a flashy dress, did us up in blush and lipstick and arranged us on various stage sets as background characters for a few choreographed routines.

From what I understand, the film, Yuvraaj, will be out in October. Look for me in my two seconds of fame! I am holding colorful liquid in cocktail glasses at the periphery of a couple of dance numbers. Little will it seem, the elaborate stage sets were all housed under a huge, makeshift (but air-conditioned!) studio made of bamboo and black tarp, a different set making up each of the four walls.

Flash. Fame. Fortune: For me, a net gain of 600 rupees for a long day's work in high heels.