AFTERMATH

It was 8.30 p.m., already dark, but the unbelievable noise outside made me glance out of the window - a small vehicle with, what looked like an outsize Harley Davidson exhaust pipe on board, was slowly making its way round the building, pumping out clouds of toxic looking smoke.....!  'They're fumigating', I was told later ...'they do it when everyone is indoors at night'  ...'there have been so many cases of maleria in Mumbai already because of all the water lying around, they're trying to kill the breeding mosquitoes and also the flies' !

Another consequence of the Monsoon season,  is that the animal population have all moved into town !  Cows prefer walking on tarred roads to slipping around in the watery fields and have taken to lying down in the middle of the highway, sometimes in groups of 8 - 10 and completely blocking the road.  It's interesting that when it starts raining, they dash for cover and huddle under buildings and any overhanging roof, to get out of the rain - I'm sure if you left a door open, you'd probably find one in your lounge, unannounced !

It's also the mating season for donkeys, so they're all in town too, checking out availability, and heralding their presence with that strange braying, which sounds like some sort of lament.

PORTRAIT OF A WORKER

POLITICS

He was on his mobile again....he's been trying to sell his property and coming up against one problem after another.  He had a buyer and was in the process of getting the paper work under way when things were held up because the prospective buyer's father was ill and taken into hospital.  "If this deal goes through", he said, "I'll never have to work again".  "It must be like waiting for the Monsoon", I remarked.  But a week later, he was looking glum, the father had died and now because of the ritual period of mourning, no further business could be done.

So now, a few weeks later, why was he still looking worried? "How are things going", I asked..."He's now been arrested - he's in prison" he said dramatically !  "Holy smoke - why ?"  I asked...."Well he allegedly ordered the slaying of someone who had been caught with illegal firearms, swift justice rather than taking it through the courts, it's quicker just to get rid of the culprit....the courts are overburdened with cases which will take years to clear,  but now he has been charged with this and put in prison himself !"  Bang goes that property deal !

BILASENDU AND SWAPNA

The two artists work back to back in a small studio, barely 6' across on the edge of Vadodara.  They come from West Bengal and make the long journey home, once a year.  40 Hours on the train to Calcutta and then another 12 hours before they reach their villages. The whole area is crisscrossed with rivers, lakes and ponds, all stocked with fish.  I had once been told that Bengalis love eating fish so much, that even when they're eating chicken, they keep a picture of a fish in their mind's eye ! 

"It's true" said Bilas, "...the ponds are stocked with fish and every village has a pond - the fish are caught with nets and fishing rods"  The chief delicacy is a fish called 'hilsa'.  It's an oily sea water fish, but swims up river to lay its eggs and this is when it is at its best.  With the rapture of true connoisseurs, they told me that once you have tasted this fish, you will never forget the flavour. It's full of bones, but Bilas assured me that Bengalis have an inbred skill, of being able to eat fish whilst at the same time spitting out the bones !  And they have 150 ways of preparing hilsa. 

CHAKLI CIRCLE

There is something about the Chakli round-about - it's so absurd.   In fact all the round-about islands in the town are faintly absurd.  Chakli means 'bird' - so it is the 'Bird Circle'.  Panels of mosaic, on the round-about, depict birds in flight from different angles, so that no matter which direction you approach from, there'll be a mosaic bird in flight and in a cordoned off area next to it, the Municipality throws bird seed down to encourage flocks of feeding birds, so that it becomes a 'Bird Circle' in reality, with groups of birds rising and settling continually throughout the day. Quite ingenious !

Then there is the 'Rhinoceros round-about ' - the enormous animal is entirely made of  thin strips of iron - so that this weightiest of animals becomes 'see through' !  By contrast the 'Banyan tree',  which in nature is made up of weird hanging tendrils and roots, is depicted in a sculpture on the round-about as a solid lump of impenetrable concrete.

By far the strangest sculpture is the one on an intersection in Productivity Road -  a startling white, glazed terracotta  life-size cow and suckling calf !  Cows wander the streets and are protected and revered in all towns - I wonder what they think of this pristine beast, as they amble past ?

PANIPURI !

The table was laden with little bowls, Parul had been busy all day preparing for the snack fest.  'Come after 8.30 p.m.'  she said.  Her parents had come up from Mumbai and her brother and his wife lived round the corner.  A neat row of shoes outside her door, indicated that the others were already there.

Now I was in for a new experience.  I had seen panipuri vendors on the street, but had always been advised not to try it for reasons of hygiene !  The puri is a spherical shape rather like a golf ball made of a paper-thin, very crisp layer of fried bread, bit like a potato crisp.  Parul showed me how to tap the top with a spoon to make a small hole.  Then fill it with a few bean sprouts, some pieces of potato and sweet chutney.  Finally, you ladle in mint water until the puri is filled up and then pop the whole thing in your mouth and crunch - bit like eating a flavored water bomb !  But what an explosion of flavors and textures - the crisp puri, the liquid pani, mint, potato and sweet chutney !

The sev puri was quite different - this consisted of round flat discs (puri) topped with layers of potato, tamarind, chutney, cumin and chilly powder, chopped onions, sev and chopped coriander, all piled into an impossible pyramid !  The closest thing to it would be Italian crostini - but the taste is definitely different !

Sev puri is actually on sale inside the cinema, to chomp on while you watch a three hour Hindi movie.  Glad they don't serve panipuri - that would be tempting fate and I would hate to be the cleaner after the show !

THE WAY IT WORKS - MONDAY 5TH JULY

The iron gates clanged shut just as I arrived at 8.45 a.m.  "What's up"?  I asked.  "We were open, we opened at 6 a.m., but they have just  told us to close everything for the day" !  "It's a political protest - a strike - all businesses will be closed for the day"  "It's because of the hike in fuel prices - the BJP/NDA opposition parties have ordered a nation wide 'bandh' strike in protest - keep indoors this morning, there may be riots - you know, stone throwing" !!

2ND JULY, 10.00 - IT'S ARRIVED: 5" IN 3 HOURS !

Pouring with rain in heavy, vertical, stripes, the Monsoon arrived this morning, without warning, without a flash of lightening or clap of thunder - here it is!  Tappish's round Bengali face was smiling, as he remarked that everyone would be opening a bottle to celebrate tonight.  Swishing along in the rickshaw, up to its mudguards in water, with my arms wet and a little breeze, I felt cool for the first time in a year, I could feel the rain soaking into my clothing.  No wonder everyone is smiling and standing in the rain and just getting wet for the hell of it - you can feel the relief and joy - no umbrellas in sight, everyone soaking in the rain - men stand in covered corners, grinning and drenched, drinking a glass of tea and reveling in the down pipes exploding with water, gutters gushing, puddles becoming lakes and within half-an-hour, everything flooded.  Rain cleaning away the dust, sluicing the drains and soaking the land.  One half of the newly divided Jetalpur Road is flooded and traffic is now using one lane. The flat roofed concrete buildings, typical of this part of India, are not insulated, so they heat slowly during the day and then radiate heat at night, as they slowly cool down, making them unbearable furnaces.  But now, everywhere, the lovely sound of rain falling and soaking the concrete and cooling everything down.  Oh, the pleasure of a 'grey' day after a year of 'blue' ones !