Here and Now

Since there’s no positive change to report, I thought I’d amuse myself by recording a few of the things making the news in Mysore these days: this stuff is all gathered from The Times of India (major Indian newspaper – think Globe and Mail), the Deccan Herald (slightly more regional daily – Halifax Chronicle, perhaps), the Bangalore Mirror (sort of Metro meets Now) and the Star of Mysore (I can’t think of what to compare this to – it’s an earnest local evening paper)…. We seem to subscribe to all of them and these days, as I sit by my grandmother’s side for hours on end, reading a newspaper from cover to cover is one of the few things I can do. So:

India’s richest temple – in Tirupati, which is a famous pilgrimage site – owes back taxes to municipal, local, state and federal governments to the tune of $30 million. The best part about this is that $19 million of this is for “human hair sale.” Read all about the Tirupati temples here!
(I should add that people go to the temple and donate their hair as a penance or out of gratitude or whatever and the temple then sells this…though I’m not sure what all that hair is used for!)

“Indian Viagra” works on eves too.
(I’m not making this one up: it’s a headline from the Deccan Herald. I’m not sure whether to be amused or appalled but since we’re in India, I’ve settled on being annoyed. An eve?! Please.)

Unmarried couples will not be rented rooms in premier hotels in Bangalore, apparently because of “security” concerns in the wake of serial bomb blasts in the city. As a hotel manager put it: “we do not want hankying and pankying in our rooms.”
(There have been a couple of letters protesting this in the Bangalore Mirror, which ran a cartoon wherein a receptionist was admonishing a couple obviously in desperate need of a hotel room – “Yes, you each have your ID and marriage certificates but you need to be married to each other.” Also, I really want to know about the unpremier hotels - is "security" not a issue there?!)

Fusion cuisine has arrived in India – in the form of vodka panipuri and cheese-mango shakes.
(I might be tempted to try the vodka spiked panipuri if I had the chance but a mango shake that has sliver of Amul cheese shaved onto it – urgh! Amul is a local brand name and it makes this (in)famous plasticky cheddar-like cheese.)

And last, this headline comes from today’s Star of Mysore: “Bangalore to get Astrology Mall.”
(Apparently this mall, which is set to open in September, will offer one-stop shopping with soothsayers, astrologers, numerologists, tarot-card readers and palmists all under one roof. Moreover, this is clearly just the beginning – there are plans to open “satellite” malls in other parts of Bangalore shortly.)

That’s all for today. I’ll be back with more in a few days. Email is harder to respond to than to update the blog (because of the slowness of the connection and its frequent outages) but I promise, I’ll get respond to all of your emails soon.