Ecotone's group blogging assignment for November 1 is Coffee Shop as Place. (I thought I'd go down to Rayar's Cafe or some such place, have a cup of filter coffee -- South Indian coffee being the best in the world -- and write about it. But my protagonist is driving her husband's wily uncle to the airport, during which trip I introduce the city and at least one plot development. I can't stop now or he'll miss the plane, and I'll fall behind on my word count.)



It is a free country. Everybody is free to obstruct everything.
(Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie, in India Today)


I loved this picture, from an article about neglected monuments in the November 11 issue of India Today (registration required) -- which is why it has a centerfold-line down the middle:


CRAWFORD MARKET FOUNTAIN, MUMBAI Completed in 1869
by William Emerson, it is a Grade I building. The Lockwood Kipling-crafted
fountain is now a storehouse, its river goddesses are painted over.


The more I looked at this picture, the more it seemed to say about India: 1. Little respect for history (as distinct from religious and customary beliefs) (though this particular bit of history is admittedly on the kitschy side -- the rest of the monuments in the article are more ancient and more important); 2. no space left empty; 3. order and chaos mixed in a proportion I have yet to figure out; 4. a particular beauty.

The picture caption includes a haunting and rhythmic phrase: '... its river goddesses are painted over.'
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