Sounds like you're volunteering for the job.

Are Monkeys of Death allowed in passenger cabins or would you need to go in the cargo hold?

You god-damned dirty ape.

...

Anyway, nice to finally see you _V_! Hate to sound like everyone else, but looks like you're doing damn well for yourself. Congrats! :)

Nice to have an insight, V.
My girls brother is from Southern India (Kerala?) and the area looks a little more...rural, but the streets are quite similar.
You both look happy.
I can tell at least one of you is a good cook:p

Kerala is as rural as rural can be. This place is more like semi-urban. You ll have a better idea after I post some more pics of the city and the areas around it.

About the cook part, well...we manage "good cooking" quite well between the two of us. Sparingly, of course.

Killer stuff _____V_____ I enjoyed checking out the pics!

you coming to NZ??
awesome..... 'leaves the pacific and hides under the carpet'

Let us know when ..and your plans,,
you would be most welcomed.

V, it's nice to finally see a picture of you. It's always nice to put a face with who you talk to. Your wife is very beautiful, and you both look incredibly happy.

Sorry I haven't been around much. I got myself in a pretty deep funk, but I'm slowly coming out of it. I won't go into details here. Just know it's getting better little by little.

It's about damn time!

I am sooo HAPPY you shared this!!!!!:)

**Bump**

Some more pics as an update...


The Gateway to the Palace of the Maharaja of Bastar

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...vi/gateway.jpg

After India became independent of British rule back in 1947, the Maharaja continued to rule for 10-11 more years over this area (known as Bastar). He had a lot of command over the local tribals and so when the princely states were siezed from the Kings and Princes to become a part of democratic India, the King of Bastar put up a stubborn fight along with his tribal army. Finally the King was defeated and killed, alongwith thousands of tribals. All their dead bodies were loaded on trucks and thrown off a huge waterfall about 35 miles from here.

The present Palace has a section still devoted to the present descendants of the royal family. It also houses 2 colleges and a big library, alongwith some small shops. It is situated in the middle of the city.


The renovated remains of the Palace behind the Gateway

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...avi/palace.jpg

The colleges are to the left. One is a girls college (now defunct), and the other is a co-ed one. The library and the royal home is to the right.


The Lake

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...navi/lake1.jpg

Once it used to be the city dump. All of it was removed and burnt outside the city, and the whole place was transformed into an artificial lake. Over the years, it has grown quite big and now stretches for almost 6 miles on all sides. A temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is situated in the centre, which is accessible by boat only.


The Lake's Evening Spot

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...navi/lake2.jpg

For rest and relaxation in the evenings. Also for nice, quiet evening strolls. Boats are available if you want to go on a cruise along the lake.

The Chariots of the Gods

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/chariot2.jpg

These are the local, wooden chariots which are used during the big Chariot festival in June-July. The local presiding dieties are loaded on them and they are pulled across from one place to another, signifying the Gods moving to a better place for rest from the summer heat. After a gap of 10 days, the chariots are pulled back to the Main Temple and the Gods are moved back into their places, signifying their return back.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...i/chariot1.jpg

Each chariot is about 60-65 feet tall, and is pulled by at least 35-40 strong men holding two big, long ropes in front.


http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...avi/market.jpg

A scene from the busy local market on Sunday, the market day. Vegetables and spices are sold separately. And its busy and crowded as hell on Sundays. Can get really exasperating!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/Fish.jpg

The local fishmonger from whom I get my fish. There are about 20 of them in several shops in a line. My fishmonger is the last one, and always has the freshest fish available.


More pics soon.

Market, huh?

Okay...I'll take the guy on the left :D

Oh...But he'll have to shave that mustache off :p


Awesome pictures, V...Makes me wish I could visit

Your market pictures made me think of the Findlay Market in Cincinnati, Ohio (not too far from my house)

This is one small piece of the Findlay Market...It's actually huge:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6..._2ed_flatA.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...innatiOhio.jpg

Nice pics of kacha bazar!:)

Excellent and informative pix, V! Thanks for sharing them.

The market looks so nice and colourful. I just about threw up when I saw fish though, after last night's sashimi. haha

I told him what you said earlier this morning when I went to get fish.


He laughed and this is his reply back for you :-

"It feels good to have an admirer halfway across the world but, the stache stays!"

:p

hahaha that's awesome

Haha! I wonder, what is the Hindi word for "stache"?

Moonch.

Pronounced Moo-(n)ch.

Awesome!
Thanks for the lesson. Hindi is a language that has always fascinated me.

Is moonch a proper word or more informal, like "'stache" is in English?

A proper word.

A bigger moustache extending on both sides is called "moonchein", pronounced "moo-(n)ch-ey-n".

haha ok these hindi words sound french to me. I think because I took french for so long I could pronounce anything like it's french though. This is the best thread ever though, I like it a lot.

V perfectly pronounced the words.:D

There are some similarities in Hindi & Bangla language, like in Bangla, we call MOUCHH or sometimes GOUF.:)

Markets, hu, you should try going to the Vic Markets in Melbourne on a Saturday, you can hardly breath. Once I took orders from my family as I was heading down to my home town that day, I had to buy over 100 dollars of seafood, a fucking nightmare ona Saturday. Every stall is impossible to get to, then I ran out of cash and had to lug what I had to an atm and go back for more hell. And it was near 40 dgc. I thought all the seafood was going to fry before I got it to the eski. I miss the Vic Markets so much though, nothing like that here in Glasgow. I used to go dureing the week, just for the freedom.

I almost took Hindi but developed a crush on the classics professor so ended up taking ancient Greek at 8:30 in the morning on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Oh, that sounds brutal.

I prefer French. It's fun learning how languages that are different are still very much alike.

I really wanna learn Japanese but I'm probably way to dumb to pick it up :)

Well I am a terrible photographer, plus all these pics have been taken by my Nokia 5800 "Tube", so apologies for the blurry images...

Here we go...cheers Scouse!


Oogling at The Beast!!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/01-1.jpg


Extremely stylish fuel tank

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/03-1.jpg


Speedo (digital, on left) and RPM meter (on right)

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/04-1.jpg


Speedo (fully lit when started - Fuel indicator and time on left, speed and top-speed clocked on right)

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/12.jpg


Racing tag (ala Ferrari's Grand Prix logo) on centre of handlebar, below Speedo

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/05-1.jpg

The whole centre of the handlebar

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/06.jpg


The engine (FI type, no carburettor)

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/07.jpg


Open chain cover (for the badass hunk look)

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/09.jpg


Tail-lights and turn indicators

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/10.jpg


And, the huge silencer on the right side

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/11.jpg


Engorge yourself!

I oogle at "him" for a few minutes myself everyday.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f353/nmc1/123.jpg


You sneak out of bed to do some illicit oogling V? :)


Beautiful bike, Id be too scared to take it out!

Take me for a ride!:cool:

Rofl...nope. I havent adjusted the time in that speedo yet.

(Still learning a TON from the huge manual of the bike)

And thanks, mate.


Anytime. The backseat is always ready and willing. :)

The whole world celebrated Diwali on the night of the 17th. It's the Indian equivalent to Halloween you can say, but its the biggest festival of India. Celebrated by lighting lamps and exploding firecrackers, and worshipping Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

Apologies for the quality of the pics...they were taken by my Nokia 5800 and not a regular camera.

The entrance of the house is decorated with a colorful, big-sized rangoli...


http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/2-1.jpg


Another angle..

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/1-1.jpg

That rangoli may look small on the pics, but its a huge one. Wife made sure it covered half of the road and almost all of the space in front of the gates.


Small pair of feet impressions are made from the rangoli to the entrance of the house, signifying the Goddess's visit to the home...


http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/3.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/4-2.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/5.jpg

The whole house decked with lights from head to toe...

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/6.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g12/ravenavi/7-1.jpg


We had a great Diwali. Nobody was around to take pics of me lighting the firecrackers till midnight so no pics there.

Very cool pics, V! The rangoli is like a carpet?

Whatelse happens during the festival? Music & feasting?

Thanks.

No, the rangoli is made from scratch using powders of different colors. Takes a lot of skill, patience and time. One big rangoli takes at least 4-5 hours to prepare.

Basically the whole house is decorated and lights are lit everywhere. The theory being that no part of the house should be in darkness...its considered inauspicious. All the family members wear new clothes and make a lot of sweet food items to distribute to friends and relatives.

Then a long puja (worship with mantras) is done for Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Kali and also we sit down and pray for the peace of all the souls of our ancestors.

Then come the firecrackers.

Some people indulge in gambling and drinking through the night too. Gambling is usually done with very heavy amounts, and since its illegal to gamble over here, police crack down on them.

The next day after Diwali is usually a holiday. In this year's case, it was a Sunday anyway. The holiday is used to visit each other's homes and wish them a Happy Diwali.

Beautiful ceremony. Thanks for sharing it with us!

That rangoli is spectacular!

Thanks. The wife will be very happy to hear that compliment. :D

Diwali is the thing when the monkey king sent the monkeys to make a big bridge so the main guy could save a princess right?

So much cooler story than the Nativity.

The Ramayana. One of the many sacred stories associated with Diwali.

http://images.exoticindiaart.com/boo...ana_idc608.jpg

It is supposed to be the night of celebration in all of Ayodhya, Prince Rama's kingdom, when he returns back to his kingdom with his wife, Sita, and his younger brother Lakshman after defeating the evil Ravana, the demon ruler of Lanka.

One of two sacred Hindu epic mythologies of all time. The other one being, of course, the Mahabharata.