Mukhun Walla

When I step off the vikram bus that gets me home from school there is generally a snack vendor of sorts. Sometimes the snack has "sick day tomorrow" written all over it, so its tempting, but today it looked great.

You pick the raw ear you want and the muckun wallah throws it on the coals and fans away. He finishes it with some numuck (salt) and nimbu (lime) and serves it in a green husk. It's far from tender, sweet, or juicy, but tangy and salty isn't bad after Hindi school.

The corn stand is a great place to talk to people. This time, the 2nd sentence from a guy was, "So if you want to stay at my house for the next 3 or 4 days, you are welcome!" Yes, it sounded that odd in person too. Then the next 8 times he offered as well. But I just wrote it off as super Asian hospitality.

After talking and sharing for 20 minutes the conversation turned political. Friend #1 told me "I believe Obama is a shadow person. You know, someone sent from above to better the world". Friend #2 chimes in with, "Oh, Jackie Chan too, being that he is from Korea". How would you field that?!  Just when you think a conversation is getting predictable.

Butcha Billy (baby cat) Wallah

It's not every day that a kitten falls through the ceiling of your hardware store and you go home with a new room mate. (feel free to imagine that scene). We had him for a few weeks until a family came along that wanted him.  His favorite pass times included mewing loudly, eating chicken livers, and pouncing on feet (which got REAL old).

We came to find out that South Asians range from being uncomfortable around cats to highly superstitious about the curses they bring. There are always exceptions, but cats are not often kept as pets here.

 

Bunder (monkey) Pile

It takes a second look, but there are five monkeys
 in this pile. If you were there in person you could see the
 smallest one trying to wriggle its way out of the
sleeping pile, but to no avail.

The peace in this photo represents about 3% of a Rhesus macaque's life span. The other 97% of their lives are spent being noisy, gutsy, thieving terrors raiding between jungle and residential areas. Rather than Curious George or the red barrel monkeys I want you to imagine the wicked witch's blue monkeys minus the color and outfits.  There are friendly monkeys in the area, but these are not them.