Second to Last Sunday

You know that situation where time seems to be going by quickly, but recent events in that period seem to have occured ages ago? That's the situation I'm in now. The trip is nearing the end, but events as close as yesterday seem far distant. Mysore was only last weekend. We put the rest of the Blue Team on a plane yesterday. These events seem like warmly remembered but distant history. I don't understand the perception of time, but I think it has to do with familiarity. I'm not sure, I just want to hold onto everything.
So, it was the second-to-last Sunday and I needed to overcome my cold and show the kids a good time. Most of the remaining players came two weeks later than the rest and missed some stuff. Plus we have Rosemary with us, who hasn't seen the city much. So, I put together an itinerary and off we went.
First stop this morning was a return to the Shiva temple. I enjoyed the place, they hadn't seen it, so I was ok going again. On the way our tuk-tuk driver was a crusty old man. "WhatchoowannaseeShee-wah for?" he'd croak at us. "Thatsbuttamanmade statchoo. Godallaround." Yes, yes, good sir: God is all around but this god is 70' tall with water squirting out his head. I saw some new things this time. In the shot above, a man smashes coconuts from our puuja offering against a rock in the Coconut Breaking Area. You get half, god gets half. Thus the smashing in two. I ended up giving my half to the beggar out front. He was blind, but I think he heard my put it there over the din.


I brought the wide angle lense this time and could get better, more complete snaps of Ganesha and Shiva.

And, yes, he has water squitering out of his head. This is the river Ganges coming down from the heavens into his hair, but it kind of looks the other way around. Shiva is already a pretty sexual god, so I don't think I'm stretching when I look at this and think it's a little pervy.

Speaking of pervy, here Rosemary looks at Robot Shiva in the Cave of Weirdness. I hate to say it, but Shiva reminds me a bit of Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs here. Creepy.
We went through a couple weird corridors like this that we paid a few rupees each for. One had crazy cold stalagtites in it. I didn't understand.

I bought some more souveniers and said my prayers for the people in my life. Shiva has been good to me this trip and I wanted to recognize, even if only to myself.

Outside we stopped by McDonald's to see what was on the menu. Turns out the star of the show was the Maharaja McChicken. Nobody was really interested, we just wanted to see.

We ended up eating at Nasa, a space-themed pub that was built like the inside of a spaceship. The waiters wore mission-control outfits. The food was fine. Refreshed we stepped out and after a quick stop at the hotel, and found our way over to the Government Museum. There was a line of kids out front who seemed happy to get their horns out.

The museum was small, but connected to an art gallery. The biggest suprise that shouldn't have been was the clear evidence how old Ganesha, Hanuman and the rest are. There was ancient stellae on display here showing the same gods that adorn dashboards today. Can you imagine if Zeus was a part of your everyday life?

The art was fine and all, but we also needed to pick up some items we'd ordered, so it was off to Commercial for more shopping. Picking up some hints from an early blog responses, I attended to several items that needed doing myself. Commercial was under repair, by the way. Alert readers may have noticed pipes on the street in earlier shots. Well, they are going in now. Commercial was all dirt.

After that long day, we rested briefly and then regrouped for dinner. Back to the sushi joint in UB City for some mild tasties and then home. One more Sunday left... this trip.