Images

It's been a month since I last posted, a hectic month with a lot of travel thrown in, but all within India. With some free time today, but not much by way of inspiration, perhaps a brief description of some of the images I can resurrect in my mind from events in the past thirty days may interest you.

1. A young labrador walking around my CRV at the Four Seasons, sniffing out for bombs on a drizzly day. What was wrong with the long handled mirror all these hotels normally shove under the boot, that they needed to replace them with this voiceless dog?

2. A six foot deep half acre wide crater where a building used to be - the building where an old Jain lady fed hundreds of pigeons and crows every morning on her terrace. Now we have to do that.

3. My dad's face when I told him that I was required to spend the night on a bench outside the ICU at Holy Family Hospital after his angioplasty, by the uncommonly rude staff. He had wanted to go home soon after it was done and grumbled all thru his short stay.

4. Bessy's surly expression after taking away my slippers and protectively guarding them so that Kasey can't chew them to bits with her newly grown molars.

5. Shashi's tight purple striped shirt at the last BARC meeting, and his expression when we teased him about it. It suited him though.

6. Charles turning a bright pink with embarrassment when his cellphone rang out the Pink Panther theme in full volume at the Board meeting. And turning pinker and pinker as we all figured out his secret alter ego.

7. The long line of red painted intercity coaches at the new Bengaluru airport.

8. The shiny russet jacquard tablecloth that was laid out for us at the lunch hosted by Aroon Purie at the magazine congress. The food and wine and conversation flowed over this incongruity like clear ocean water over a bed of slimy seaweed.

9. Hormusji's pistachio green 1945 Ford something with leather seats and more leg room than Kingfisher First.

10. Large wedges of warm brown walnut cake from City Cafe, courtesy Mahesh Bhojne's birthday, with walnut halves on the top.

And yes, there's a sound that I remember too - that of a reassuring deep long distance voice just when I needed it most.