Kaveri is your friend

In finnish my name means:

friend, chum, buddy, mate, cove, pal, brick, fellow, guy, bloke, chap

It's odd to think that my name is a commonly used word in another language. To me it's like if you met someone named "Soap". Soap may be some revered god or godess or a have some divine meaning in their culture of origin. But in english it's something with which to wash onself or something else.

Hey Soap, How you doin' Soap?...

It's interesting to me that as soon as even a word is taken out of context the meaning is stripped, rendered void, and whole new meaning is built into the compilation of sound units.

Ganesha

ironyofdparadox: Dunking devotion

Above is a link to a great Ganapathi festival pic on an interesting blog.

Artistes spend at least three months making these Ganapathis that are eventually blessed and then immersed in water around this time of year. In Mumbai, Ganeshas are immersed int th Arabian Sea. The festival is a big deal in Maharashtra, at least more than in other states. The festival became larger than life in this state around the time of the freedom fighters byt Balgangadhar Tilak as way to evoke the spirit of community in order to fight against colonial rule.

And, of course, for further info there is a WIkipedia entry on Ganesha.

All things gastronomical

Hi chillis, I'm feeling a helluva lot better thanks to a lovely, chatty, thorough doctor prescribing some magic pills for me to consume. There are still some things to be sorted out healthwise, but we have made major progress as of today. Not only can i eat more than a morsel of food again, but my general health looks better than i thought it was. I generally hate dealing with doctors, tests, hospitals and the like, but this guy was/is fantastic. He doesnt make you feel like crap for what you could be doing better and assumes you're intelligent and capable of understanding his explanations. He's also very meticulous about his work. It's been many, many years since i have given any doc rave reviews. But, if you are in mumbai and in need of a GI guy he's your man.

What else? The Ganapathi festival is finally over and another festival is on its way in...this is how we know monsoon is well on its way out. I took some pics of the Ganaptahi festival--I seem to have a stellar camera and only the slightest capability to take good snaps with it. Yet another reason to add a little more discipline in my life with regard to my writing time. C'est la vie.

I had written something about the festival for your eyes only that i will post this week.

Something i have been noticing and thinking about more is the dabbawala coding system. See suburban wives or maids cook homemade food for their spouses or employers who are in office in the city. The dabbawala picks up the food that should be ready at the same time every morning. Then through a series of various markings and transfers the dabba will be on the respective city worker's desk at lunch time daily. Thousands and thousands of dabbas are collected from over 3 hours away from the city and reach the right desk at the right time everyday. studies have been conducted on this system. Here's the wiki link to the dabbawala entry.

up and down

Lately the impulse to write anything evades me. And when it comes it says, "write nothing 'public'."


This past weekend's had ups--lovely music concert in the living room and its downs--grounded at home due to stomach infection.

The music concert consisted of one of mumbai's best known sitqar players and tabla players. these guys normally jam at a trendy place called seijo and the souldish, but the people i live with are old friends of these guys and so they came home and performed to a small gathering.

The stomach infection, h. pylori, has been hell and has been building up since the beginning of august. i started a regiment of drugs ( 6 pills each day) and after three days i am feeling a helluva lot better.