Talk of war with Pakistan. All around. And social media amplifiés things so much that reality starts getting blurred. Ppl talk of the kinds and makes of fighter jets India possesses. In fact we hear these jets flying above. Going somewhere. Whooooom. So big and noisy. It’s a nuclear state and so is Pakistan. Deterrent, restrain, annihilation. Revenge and retribution.

It’s scary at a very practical level. Of course I’d rather not be a part of it. At any level. Even if I think it’s mostly propaganda and populism. War mongering wins elections. And elections are round the corner. Nobody can afford to seem unpatriotic these days.

Hmmm.

Finally a splendid Delhi winter afternoon. The kind I remember from my childhood days.
A warm bright sun, clear blue skies and children playing somewhere in the background. Sitting with a book on our manicured lawn. With the assorted cats of the neighborhood . Why don’t you come to eat ? Calls mom. Because Sunday lunch was special. Almost a ritual. Meat curry and rice. The house was fragrant with the simmering spices. Yummy.and the cats got  the leftovers.

Smog
 embedded envelopped enclosed encapsulated encompassed engulfed enshrined
Shrouded
In
Smog 

Bargain country. 1$. 🙂🙂happy

That’s our macaque in residence at the hospital campus
I meet him on my return almost everyday.
He is tolérated and fed. Something to do with Hanuman I suppose ( that’s the monkey god )
And he has a very red bottom. 

Not to see

Don’t find much to write about in Delhi. Perhaps because it’s a city a know. An administrative city. People come here to work. Earn a living. A goal directed city.  Nobody belongs to this teeming metropolis. Bursting at its seams. Where you are scared of putting your foot on what looks like the street as vehicles come honking from all possible directions with the sole purpose of crushing you into a pulp.
People in and around the hospital look resigned and sad. Throngs of people in Ill assorted clothes. The kind you wear when you take a long long bus from your village to get your child treated in India’s premium institution. I am reading more into it than I should. It’s probably not all that. All the sadness and resignation and parents sitting on sidewalks holding their babies and waiting and waiting.
Actually put on dark glasses and tried to close my ears. Head lowered. Hum a tune. Think about montreal. The trick is To not see.

Fantastic academic setup. Parasite and NDM paradise. I participate. That’s good. And fun.

Not a good post. Will not like it in retrospect.  Sorry

Went to AIIMs. All India institute of medical sciences. It’s huge. Prestigious. And

So many many many many people.
Absolutely overwhelming 

Ganesha

About Ganesha. He is one of the more interesting Hindu deities( there are lots n lots of Hindu Gods;a mixture of the ´pure’ , the pagan , and perhaps the tribal. Not very different from many other religions ). His form is interesting. A man with a head of an elephant , a big belly, 4 hands. His means of transportation is the mouse. It really is. And he likes to eat round yellow sweets called ladoos. Oh yeah. My kind of God. 

When one has an elephant head and a belly,one is liable to be represented in so many ways. Perhaps no other deity has been subject to as many representations.  Ganesha represents bright optimistic stuff. Success. Luck. So he is everywhere. In houses, in temples , on car dashboards, in shops, restaurants.

So much everywhere,that rustam has to know. He is in a taxi cab.  Ganesha looks on with a kind of benevolent resignation. What is that ? My rambling explication of symbolism in religion is not very adapted to the situation. This is Worse than the birds and the bees. Guess I panic. Ganesha is a super-héros, rustam, says the mother improvising unabashedly.  Like Batman Spider-Man and Hulk. Il tue des méchants. How did he get his elephant’s head ? Let’s tell him the truth, it’s always easier. His dad décapitated him by mistake. And then fixed him up with the head of the first being he found. And what happened to the baby elephant?Rustam is sad. Avec Raison. It’s not nice to cut off heads of animals. Oh he grew it back. Regenerated. Like lizards tails ?

Good enough. We talk of lizards. Ganesha smiles on. Benevolently.