I’ve talked about Mr. BA (Buffalo Ass) and his wife The Carp on a couple of occasions before. Well not much has changed. He’s still assing and she’s still carping.
The rare few times I’ve met her she’s been the most inquisitive type. One time I was going towards the car as we were going out for supper and she came running up to me asking where I was going and was I going to the bazaar and was I getting food there. There was no reason for this questioning other than maybe she felt out of sorts that I don’t take food from their restaurant much. I have only twice. It was good enough but I know they have so many cockroaches in there that I don’t trust the quality of the food. Every time they do any furniture shifting or cleaning our place gets over-run with the things so we have to do extra cleaning and spraying. They don’t spray to keep them away.
Normally this is fine as the weather is not conducive to large hordes of them but lately this has become a bit of an issue since the weather has been quite warm for quite a long stretch and they have been doing extensive cleaning in preparation for painting. They heard I had my place painted and of course one has to keep up with the Joshi’s (that’s like keeping up with the Jones’es).
So again at the night of the Ram Lila that I was chief guest at (see most previous post) as I was making my way out and was somewhat dressed up she took the opportunity to attempt to question me again. She wanted to know where I was going. I said Ram Lila. She looked surprised as this is not generally a foreigner thing. Then she wanted to know if I was leaving Mussoorie in a few days. I said no. She looked surprised. I don’t know where she got such an idea from. She had a whole passle of other questions but Manoj drove up on the scooter and I jumped on as quickly as possible to get away from her.
I don’t know what her fishing expeditions are all about. I have nothing to do with her or her immediate family. If she spent half as much time attending to her own business as she does attending to others she’d probably be one of the wealthiest women in Mussoorie. But gossip is just so much fun I guess.
They have this festival called Navratri here and it goes on for nine days. During that time they run a serialized play every night called the Ram Lela which basically means Ram’s play. It is about his adventures as told in the Hindu mythological text Ramayana. Ram is a god, Sita is his wife and Laxman is his friend. Sita gets kidnapped by a bad guy called Ravan. The tale is the story of how they got her back with the help of Hanuman, the king of the monkeys. Hanuman becomes a god in the process. It’s a fairly simple morality play about good triumphing over evil and the perils of greed and jealousy.
So here’s the photos of the opening ceremony for the 8th night in which I was the chief guest.
Here I am cutting the ribbon with the help of the head of the temple committee. This play runs at about 5 or 6 locations in Mussoorie. Each larger temple stages it’s own version. This happens in every town and city all over India.
Here I am performing the Aarti which is the opening blessing. I am holding a tray with a small oil light on it and some incense. I move it around in a clockwise fashion in front of the actors. The guy in the grey sweater between me and the actors in a priest who is chanting in Sanskrit while I am doing this. The people behind me are the musicians who are playing along with the chant. The guy with the drum is the head of the temple committee. Manoj is standing next to me holding my purse. We are wearing garlands around our necks as these were presented in the beginning.
The three actors in costume are playing Laxman (Ram’s best friend), Ram (the god) and Sita (the wife of Ram). The female roles, like Sita’s are played by men. It’s kind of unusual to have a woman be the chief guest and do the Aarti but I am foreign so that makes me half a man in Indian hierarchy I think. But Manoj with me, he is of Brahmin caste (which is priest caste) makes it more legitimate too. This entrenched inequality stuff is interesting. Most of the audience is women and children and teenage boys.
Here I am giving my little speech in Hindi thanking everyone for inviting me etc.
Here is Manoj giving a follow-up speech explaining my Hindi (haha). He is telling them I am a famous writer. Ohh it’s nice to have a publicist for a “boyfriend”.
Here is the little boy who acted as our photographer while we were busy. He took his own picture. He’s never worked a digital camera before. We just showed him where to look on the camera and which button to push. We told him just take lots and lots of pictures. Odds were a few would turn out. He was very proud to be helpful to the chief guest of the evening.
I am doing a whole article about the Ram Lela on the travel blog when I get the photos edited and there are quite a few of them. Time is slipping away too quickly. I know I don’t update here often but will try to get that rectified too.
On my other blog I have been writing about the recent earthquake in Bhutan and also the secondary one experienced in Uttarakhand. I am putting all that information here as well as it was reported there.
Post 1 Sept 21, 2009
Just felt the ripples here in Mussoorie Uttarakhand India of the earthquake in Bhutan. Happened about 35 minutes ago. People on twitter about it. Am updating this post since then.
I read it was a major one striking Bhutan, Tibet, and north-east India.
There was also one in this state of Uttarakhand (formerly called Uttaranchal) at 4.8 that coincided with the Bhutan incident. It happened about 15 minutes after the Bhutan quake. The USGS report for Uttarkhand http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009lvax.php This is the one I felt here.
As soon as my chair started rocking, it’s the 4 legged variety not a rocking chair I did a twitter search.
Reports so far is that it is a 6.3 on the Richter scale for the Bhutan quake. Fatalities have now been reported.
Will check local media and update.
Here is the link for one of the twitter feeds. http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=Bhutan+earthquake
NDTV India news channel twitter feed: http://twitter.com/ndtv
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System-orange alert http://www.gdacs.org/reports.asp?eventType=EQ&ID=65956&system=asgard&location=BTN&alertlevel=Orange&glide_no=
Make a report if you felt it too. Here http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/dyfi/events/us/2009lvap/us/index.html
Here are the shake maps from USGS for the Bhutan incident http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/shakemap/global/shake/2009lvap/
Media links:
I’ll keep posting them as they come up. Later ones have more story. They are in chronological order as they appear.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/2887827/Quake-6-3-hits-Bhutan
USGS http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009lvap.php
http://www.sfexaminer.com/world/ap/59981257.html
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/21/6-3-quake-rocks-bhutan/
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-42596120090921?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jsLTUGN4SG1x-A00lBBE1JQRBHDQD9ARKHRO0
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-as-india-quake,0,3159995.story
http://www.thenewstribune.com/apheadlines/story/887164.html?source=rss
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/52535.htm
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/strong-quake-rocks-bhutan-three-killed-20090921-fyoc.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/21/bhutan.quake/index.html?eref=rss_latest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8267067.stm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/21/2692470.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32951086/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
Now the stories are being indexed in Google so you can continue to monitor the situation as you see fit.
Post 2 Sept 22, 2009
News articles are coming out about the deaths and damage in remote Bhutan after the earthquake yesterday.
The New York Post has an article about some of the damage done to Buddhist monasteries there and that some monks have been forced to leave.
Kuensel Online a Bhutanese media outlet has a story as well. They have listed the casualties, talked with survivors and summed up some of the damage to Buddhist related structures and the like:
Many monuments, monasteries, chortens, houses and schools in eastern Bhutan have been damaged. There were heavy cracks on Trashigang dzong and Lhuentse Singye dzong, according to dzongkhag officials. Dzongkhag officials in Pemagatsel also reported that there was a major damage to Yongla Goenpa. The sertho of Trongsa dzong had also tilted, while parts of the Tshemey lhakhang in Yangneer, Trashigang, collapsed, injuring four people, including two monks. Roadblocks in many parts of Mongar and Trashigang were also reported.
Here is a link to over 500 news stories for those following the situation. It should be noted that aftershocks are occurring as well and increasing the damage and the likelihood of more casualties.
We have been told around here in the media to expect some aftershocks as well since our followup earthquake yesterday too. Though these will probably pass unnoticed.
Locally the Buddhist population of Tibetan refugees has been enjoying a festival of Tibetan music, dance and other arts for the past few days to coincide with the ending of the Muslim season of Ramadan and the start of the Hindu season of Dussera/Divali (festival of lights). It is usually decided that if some of the major religious denominations are going to take a holiday then all might as well enjoy it in their own way as well.
I am currently listening to school kids at the Central School for Tibetans singing Tibetan folk songs and accompanying themselves with traditional instruments. They’ve been practicing for weeks for these performances.
There are collections being taken up by the Tibetans at this time, at the temple from visitors and the school from the audience to send whatever assistance is possible through the monastic system and the Tibetan government in exile to Bhutan to help with their efforts at ameliorating some of the destruction. I am told initiatives are currently being organized elsewhere here in India as well among the Buddhist populations.
End of duplicate post.
So everything is fine here. If I report more on this, like if there are any aftershocks or the like I will update this post.
I would be really happy to leave Mussoorie today and never come back. Maybe I should just leave the country. I’d really like to go to South America for a look. But maybe just back to Canada will be enough. Usually it takes 2 months and not 2 weeks to get this feeling. Maybe I have worn out my welcome here. I may just keep that thought a few more days and perhaps act on it. I am tired right now. Not feeling like writing at all. But I will in a while especially on the Buddhist blog of mine.
Numerous times I’ve made mention of my neighbor Mr. Buffalo Ass but only made oblique references to the rest of the family. You may notice that I am calling him Mr. now instead of just Buffalo Ass. Well a while back I encountered him-the first time at close range, face to face since Ive been living here for a year- and he actually looked at me and ventured to give me a weak sort of smile that seemed almost like an apology. He knows I know what he and the Carp say about me but he’d never venture, even when in his usual state of inebriation to say those things to my face. Any ways I got a sort of human feeling off of him that moment so now I’ll call him Mr. Buffalo Ass.
About the Carp. That’s his wife. From approx. 6:30Am every day until 1:00AM she carps. And not just in any ordinary sort of way. She is loud voiced and spews words at a rate of about 500 per minute and at least at 90 decibels. Non Stop. All Day. She’d make a real fine auctioneer. You can imagine this gets on one’s nerves after a while.
She always starts with an inventory of all the defects of her drunken husband and the amount he drank on the night previously. Then as he starts work, he cooks in their restaurant, she starts on every single thing he does and tells him it is wrong or too slow or something like that. Then she starts on all the defects of the restaurant, their car, their children and then on to the neighbors. Then she stops for about 10 minutes to do puja (prayers) where she says them as loud and fast as she says everything else done to the ringing of a small bell she shakes. She sounds like she’s railing on Lord Shiva when she chants the mantras and prayers. No doubt even he is hanging his head in shame and going looking for a bottle too by the time she gets done with him.
Then it’s back to the husband. He then starts on the neighbors, I think to deflect her attention, and I am one he likes to pick on. I have said so far we, me and Manoj, are responsible for the water shortage, milk shortage, several power outages, screaming fights all night every night (sorry its them not us!), strange food being cooked in our kitchen, upsetting the balance of nature by not being married, and I forget what else. And he doesn’t care if I write about him in my books-he said so! He’ll say whatever he wants. At least he knows I’m a writer!
Well the Carp has nearly driven me to drink a few times as well. (tho I didn’t go there) I just want to say “Take a breath once in a while.”
Anyways the Carp has been gone for three days now. Oh there’s still arguing between Mr. Buffalo Ass and his son-its loud but it’s short and done with, not spurred on from the sidelines for 2 or 3 hours around midnight. She likes to keep the emotion hot as much as possible. It doesn’t mean that it’s quiet around here either. They’ve been remodeling the restaurant or preparing for painting or something and a lot of shifting of stuff around. Last night they were doing this shifting and sweeping until about 2AM-but at least they( father and son) weren’t arguing about it constantly.
Anyways this afternoon is real quiet and we even got to sleep in this morning til past 8:30 since the Carp wasn’t yelling at her husband or Lord Shiva at a volume resembling a jet plane taking off. I hope she stays away for a good long time. The old man misses her though I can tell. He’s singing all these forlorn love songs. He sings all the time when she isn’t yelling at him and is probably a nice guy. I mean he takes a hell of a lot of abuse and doesn’t turn around and give her a punch in the face like a lot of guys around here would do. Domestic violence is rampant in these parts. Most of the women sort of cower around the men. And most of the men are angry, arrogant, self-righteous assholes.
So maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on the Carp. She’s making up for all those other silent women in Mussoorie.
Note: About the unwanted visitors in previous posts. They showed up. The deal was made (with a little extra “needed” for the guy at the office) and that should be that. I’ll write more once Manoj actually gets his passport and we stash it someplace. We all got off real lucky-in Delhi it costs over 1oo,000Rs to get your passport usually I hear. Ahh the joys of corruption!
NellaLou
dianediary
