Attitudes and Appearances

Posted on by sudhagee

6.45 am. Mumbai domestic airport. The flight to Hyderabad is now delayed by 25 minutes. It is raining heavily and the passengers, most of whom are on their way to Hyderabad for a day trip on work or business, are getting restless. When some of them insist on knowing the reasons for the delay, the air hostesses roll out a standard and automatic response: “ATC has not yet given us clearance for take-off”.

The reason for the delay in take-off is finally understood at around 7.00 am, when about 15–20 new passengers enter the plane. It is quite evident from the tags on their hand baggage that they have arrived on an international flight from a gulf country and this flight to Hyderabad is a connecting flight for them. These passengers, all Indians, probably work in the gulf region and are on their way to home (Hyderabad) for the Ramadan holidays. As soon as the new passengers are in, the plane doors are shut, the air hostesses get busy closing the overhead luggage racks, remind passengers to wear their seat belts, switch off their mobile phones, etc. The captain’s announcement also comes on to welcome the passengers and give the flight details.

Soon all the passengers are seated and buckled to their seats. Except one. He is one of the new arrivals, and boarding pass in hand, he is looking for his seat, any seat, an empty seat. He is a dazed looking, middle-aged man, a little dishevelled and frayed shirt cuffs. One of the air hostesses tells him firmly, “Sir, please take your seat.”

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Travel Shot: Leonbergers in London

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I loved travelling by the tube in London as not only did it get me from point A to point B at the shortest possible time, I always delighted in seeing something new or unusual. It was not unusual to see people travelling with their pets, but one day I met two Leonbergers on my way to the university.

20 May 2009: Leonbergers in the London tube

Like most  big dogs, they were extremely friendly and only wanted to climb on to my lap ! The only problem was that they were big, really, really big. I spent a happy 20 minutes admiring them and photographing them till my stop came.

Bliss 🙂

With love, from Palestine

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Guess what I received for Id this year?

Some lovely, fragrant za’atar (a herb mix), and some absolutely, stunning, gorgeous, traditional handicrafts, all the way from occupied Palestine, courtesy my friend, Erab. Go on, have a look…

Cross stitch embroidered cushion cover
Bag with cross stitch embroidery

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Papakudi Meena

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It was a little over noon when the train from Madras pulled into Dadar station in Bombay. It had been a long journey for the weary and grimy travellers, who disembarked with a sense of relief. Some were being received by family and friends, while many more were just making their way out of the station on their own.

Ram looked fearfully out of the train window. This was his first time in Bombay and he had never seen so many people or heard so many languages spoken at one time. He had also never smelt anything like this before—the smell of so many people, sweat, the salty air and his own fear of the unknown. His first instinct was to take the next train back to Madras and then another to his native village in southern Tamil Nadu. That’s when he thought of his family back home and the reason he had come to Bombay—to make a living like countless others before him, and countless others after him.

He took a deep breath, gathered his belongings and resolve, said a prayer to his favourite god Shiva and stepped off the train. He now had to make his way to his cousin Meena’s house in Matunga; Meena’s husband, Raman had promised to help him find a job. But first he needed to get to Meena’s house, which he had been told was not too far from Dadar station.

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Mumbai Lens: Misty monsoon avatar

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Quick ! Tell, me, what images come to your mind when you think of monsoons and rains in Mumbai? The waves lashing the Worli seaface or Marine Drive. People wading through (at least) knee-deep water. Submerged tracks. Buses and taxis still plying in spite of heavy rainfall. Victims of landslides or collapsed buildings…

I present to you here none of these images; instead, what I present here are lesser seen images, avatars, of Mumbai. Images that almost made me feel like I was somewhere else.

View from Nehru Centre one rainy day

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Travel Shot: Regent’s Mosque

Posted on by sudhagee

One morning, on an exceptionally clear October day of 2008, I was walking in Regent’s Park in London. It was along a path that I had not taken before and I was busy taking in all the new sights. Suddenly, an intriguing glint of gold in the distance caught my eye, and I walked in that direction to further explore the source.

The Regent's Mosque, London
The glint had come the dome of the Regent’s Mosque, a dome that was not actually golden, but had coppery and bronze hues. The way the mosque dome sparkled in the morning sun was unbelievable, and with autumnal colours all around, it was a sight that I can never forget.

As I stood there clicking photographs, a family passed me by wishing me “Eid Mubarak”, and then another family and then some more. It was then that I realised that it was Eid-ul-Fitr or Ramadan Id that day.

Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated in the Indian sub-continent on August 31 (the rest of the world will celebrate it a day early), and I take this occasion to wish all my readers Eid Mubarak 🙂