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Urban Village – Peak-a-boo!
Here’s another urban village wandering with my favourite subject – the neighbourhood cats.
Peak-a-boo! You can’t see me!
Just look up silly! I so can TOTALLY see you!
These guys just have that awww adorable quality.
Related posts:
Urban Village – When did that happen?
Lady of the Cakes has some great series like her ‘Cat Talk’ and ‘Street Snaps’. I can’t even come close to her perfect blend of photographic talent and genius wit!
However it inspires sharing the occasional random ‘snaps’… I’m particularly fascinated with the contradictions of places where urban and village life combine or collide.
In Mumbai, we live smack dab next to a “village” which I cut through on my way to the market. There are always interesting sights and, I’ll admit, I have a special fondness for the cats. One I’ve seen since she was a kitten. With all the travel in the last few months, hadn’t spotted her til the other day… in a somewhat compromising position… so simply had to share!
BEFORE:
Check out the poor tart with kittens below me…
I’ll never be that foolish!
AFTER:
Holy crap! When did that happen?!
And they are greedy suckers too!
I dunno about you, but she looks pretty startled with her current state to me. 🙂
Any before / after pics that amuse you? Care to share??
Related posts:
Saying goodbye
One of the things that any immigrant or global citizen experiences is missing being ‘there’ for all life events that happen with family and friends. And even if still living in one’s country of birth, the reality today is that many families are scattered around a country too. So being able to say ‘goodbye’ to a loved one in person before they pass on is not always possible. I missed the funerals of both grandmothers – very different yet equally remarkable women.
One also learns to let go of things… after all how much can one really cart around the world? The alternative is to litter storage boxes in various locations and, as the years pass, the likelihood of retrieving them grows less and less. I’ve managed to restrict myself to storage at primarily two locations – my parents and sister’s homes. I harbour a dream to own a house large enough to have a library and ship all my books to where ever that ‘dream home’ will be! (more…)
Blame technology, not me!
If you’ve wondered about the week-long “radio silence,” a busy social life and “The project” work are not the real reasons… Nope, if you want to blame anything? Blame technology!
I’ve had one of the wretched weeks where one thing is compounded by another until you can only throw you hands up in the air and cry “Mercy!”
Desktop disk disaster
Happier times in Feb 2013 with my new desktop learning to wrestle with Windows 8 (which I still hate!)
It started off innocuously enough… Mosying along minding my business until the “insufficient disk space.” How had I managed to gobble all the space on the system drive? Four hours and 6 phone calls later was told to do several steps which proved the next day to be merely a temporary work-around. There really is a disk error and next is to take the machine in for hardware not software trouble shooting.
However I have learned: Place of purchase will pass one on to IBM who will pass on to one Lenovo number to pass on to another Lenovo number to pass on to Microsoft to pass on to the place you purchased with an extended warranty. Full circle!
Now I know you techie savvy folks want details and would love your help but wait… There’s more! (more…)
House Cooling/Warming Part 2 – Special Paan
Wednesday’s “house-warming” was combined with the launch of The Bartender’s new video… The entire place was bursting with talent and instruments. Fabulous!
Sooooo…. NOT a cop!
It was a riot seeing the video together with the folks involved in making it – lots of familiar faces! The video was shot walking distance from home… And features some of my favourite Bandra graffiti, brought to life digitally with funky eye googling! It is based on an old hindi film hit “Khaike Paan Banaraswala” re-interpreted “Bartender” style.
We all cracked up at the sadhu and cop parts especially. Vinay a sadhu?? Ramon a cop?? Impossible!! Far too zany to even be the caricature ‘cool dudes’ that burst forth after eating the special paan spiked with a secret transformative formula. (more…)
B-B-B-B-Birthday Celebrations – Quintuple style!
My mother went into labour as ‘trick or treaters’ knocked on their door the Hallowe’en of 1969. She would say how, as her contractions came, she wished I might hold off just a wee bit til after midnight… By 5am the next day she was cursing but got her way as I welcomed the world on 1st November.
Over the years, I’ve met others born on 1st November and occasionally we even celebrate our birthdays together.
For my 40th birthday, enjoyed a ‘triple treat’ birthday with:
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Triple hit – 1st November babies (2009)
A “young” friend (left in pic) who has such a zest for life, we bonded instantly when we met a couple of years ago. We share a love of good music, laughter and more!
- Yup – that’s me in the middle!
- An “old” friend (right in pic) – we met in France in 1988. I’ll never forget one party in Mumbai where a guy I just met ever so kindly took it upon himself to ‘introduce’ me to others (thinking I’m a newbie firangi to India)… to discover practically everyone else there and I knew each other from weeks… to months… to years… By the time he came to my “old” friend: “We’ve known each other for over twenty years – I think maybe 23?” He went “I give up! Who the hell are you???” (more…)
Braving malls, masks and gifts… Jakarta’s Block M Square and Pasaraya Malls
I’ve already confessed to paultry posts about experiences in Jakarta. I’ve also admitted I’m not a big fan of shopping or malls… This post braves both!
Before I left Bombay for Jakarta earlier this month, my partner requested I buy us a mask or two and replenish our empty ‘gift cupboard.’
Why masks? Well… it has become one of our ‘things’… we’ve separately collected masks here and there. So when we came together, our masks did too.
Glimpse of our masks…
Cooooofffeeee! Part 2
Clearly my 1st Starbucks experience in India was utterly sub-par… So why bother with a Part 2?
Well… as is often the case in life… there is more to the story!
1. Bandra Reclamation Starbucks – Part 2
Embroiled in local tussles regarding bribes… ahem licensing issues, apparently the power cut issue is only one symptom. One hopes that whatever lafra (a brilliant Hindi slang word that roughly translates as ‘trouble’) is going on is resolved soon. (more…)
Cooooofffeeee! Part 1
I’m a coffee addict! I’ve also had a wretched time for a week with BOTH of my internet services doing a “Now you see me! Now you don’t!” game, making getting anything accomplished doubly difficult! (Also explains my blog absence too!)
So, I thought, why not check out the new Starbucks that opened down the street?
Bandra Reclamation Starbucks
In Asia, typically there are three things you can count on from Starbucks (or its equivalents):
- Reasonably reliable Wi-Fi
- Blissful cool from powerful air-conditioning
- Drinkable coffee
All desirable things… right? So out I strolled in the sunny 36’c warmth (that 96’F for my American friends).
What did I find? (more…)
Daily Prompt: Home Sweet Home 2
Daily Prompt: When you’re away from home, what person, thing, or place do you miss the most?
I travel – at least once a month – typically for a couple of weeks. So ‘being away from home’ is a fact of life.
My concept of ‘home’ has two dimensions:
- Home of my birth – Winnipeg, Canada
- Adopted home – Mumbai, India
Yet my answer for both is simple – family and friends. And warning – this post is unabashedly sentimental! (more…)
Everyday Asia 