Fish

I recently took a trip to Kerala to enjoy the Monsoon.  I like the rains anywhere but it's true, they are more beautiful in Kerala.  Also, the fish is excellent.  So here, fish in the rain;



More to come as I sort through my holiday pictures and maybe another holiday to come too but that's another story involving painters and tradesmen and a flat move.

A quick peek at Kochi

As the monsoon sets in we headed off to Kerala where, I've been reliably informed by Keralans, the best of the rains are to be found.  There was just time for a whistlestop tour of Fort Kochi when we arrived for our one night stay and pictures were duly snapped from under my umbrella.  Truth be told I didn't take many but I've made up for it on the rest of the journey, however, for your delectation, here are a few windows in Kochi:

 A Christian window.

a Jewish window,

and a Hindu window.

...and a bonus picture of a cafe I saw.

More pictures to come of lovely, lovely rains.

Gothic corners

The weather is changing now but,we've had three weeks or more of too hot weather.  Relentlessly still, humid and sunny.  Fantastic for sitting in a cool cafe with an equally cool drink but exhausting for anything else.

Wandering around Mumbai with my camera, a target for every tout and taxi driver in the city, I found myself seeking out leafy and shaded streets and enjoying the gothic side of the city.

Like all Colonial architecture there is an incongruity to it that can make it seem out of place yet, in the use of local materials and some adaptation of ornamentation it leans towards local traditions too.  At least that how it seems to me.  Here are some pictures of what I've been looking at:

Rajbai Clock Tower, the Mumbai cousin of Big Ben

 Gated gardens with lovely wrought iron work. 

 Guarding the Garden

 More elaborate architecture in Fort with a "raven" for added effect

In the last week the breezes have started blowing, the clouds billowing and as I wrote this one of our first sprinkles of rain fell.  Things are cooling down just as work winds down for the summer and my thoughts are on monsoon travels.

Indian Teaching resources

As a teacher on the international scene I have all the same needs as any other teacher but sometimes amplified.  It isn't unusual to have to put together courses from scratch, once without any text books from August to December.  I've fallen back on the Times Educational Supplement site - TES for resources, lesson plans, schemes of work and general chit chat time and again. It's also been fantastic for job searching and researching new schools and locations.

I was recently contacted by TES to let me know that there is now a dedicated TES India  and asked if I minded promoting it a little. I have absolutely no qualms in doing that, it's free, spam free and if the Indian version is even half as good as the original site it will be a real boon to teachers.

Besides, if you sign up now you have a chance to win 1 million Rupees for you and the same for your school!

If you're an Indian teacher I highly recommend it, you really have nothing to lose.

Warking

In the spirit of never regretting missing a picture I dragged myself out on one of the hottest days of the year so far.  I dodged ricks and trucks and massive potholes to snap a road sign that I loved.  I've always regretted not causing a traffic jam in order to get a picture of one on a construction site on the outskirts of Jaipur which read "Better late than newer".

What really delighted me about this was that it wasn't a one off mistake.  There was another identical one at the other end of the hole in the road.

Mumbai Mannequin Man

I tend to become fond of odd little sights on regular journeys and feel the need to spot them when I cross their paths.  A kind of visual OCD I suppose.  I've seen this guy so many times as I have passed in taxis but usually,  and unusually for Mumbai, we've been going too fast to capture him.

He's out on his balcony all year round.  My memory might be playing tricks on me but I am pretty convinced that sometimes he wears a jacket.  

Cock o' the walk

Now I'm perfectly familiar with the concept of a city being a series of interconnected villages.  What I'm less used to is the villagers bringing their animals with them but in Mumbai it's fairly common.  There are a surprising amount of chickens in the city and this fine fellow struts his stuff just a few minutes walk from the Bentley showroom. He's showing some city living damage but is still Cock o' the Walk.

A city of contrasts?  Indeed it is.

Colonnades

There are some lovely buildings in Mumbai in various states of repair and most of them are very photogenic.  I'd somehow got through nearly two years here without going out with the express intention of photographing buildings.   I'm taking steps to amend that error and in recognition of that, here's a colonnade:

I like colonnades, my absolute favourite types are the SE Asian shophouse covered walkways complete with clashing tiles and and goods spillling out onto the streets. That said, there's a lot to be said for a nice British colonial colonnade too and this one with the Salvation Army shields and colours is amongst my favourites in Mumbai

Pigeons

Everywhere you look, there are the pigeons.  Above you, beneath  your feet, perching at eye level, peering in your windows and, on occasions, flying right at your lens

This one was on a direct flight path between the Gateway to India and me.

I rather like the much maligned pigeons despite their droppings, their noise and their clear animosity towards me.  Here is a previous pigeon encounter.

They, like the street dogs, have a well developed survival instinct.  Mumbai wouldn't be quite the same without them.

Mumbai Mobile Creches

 

I saw this parked up on a street near Colaba Causeway and it puzzled me greatly. 

My first thoughts were "Child Catcher" - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang obviously had a great influence on me.  It turns out that it's part of a rather marvelous organisation  which provides childcare and education to the children of itinerant workers in the construction industry.

I still wouldn't want to be the naughty child in class.