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Saturday 10 January 2009

Where I've Just Been -- Munni

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22 comments:

Zephirine said...

Marine Drive, Bombay (or Mumbai if you prefer). Munni tells me it's usually much more crowded than this.

Anonymous said...

Anthony Gormley has a hand in this, surely???

Anonymous said...

The light's lovely, Munni - was it early morning?

Anonymous said...

yeah, it was morning. One of my cousins actually took the picture, I cannot take credit for it.

Mimi, perhaps I'm being dense, but I need the Anthony Gormley reference explained.

Anonymous said...

so this is arabian sea, que bonito!
Muni were you in Mumbai during the hotels and central station attacks?

Zephirine said...

Was Mimi thinking of these, maybe?

Anonymous said...

Mimi is fascinated by the Angel of the North-

Anonymous said...

Strangely enough, that picture reminded me of La Promenade des Anglais, in Nice. At first sight only, of course.

Does the brain always try to connect a new image with something familiar?

Zephirine said...

I think all of those seafronts are a bit alike because of the space and reflected light where the sea is - but it couldn't be Nice, Offie, no old ladies and no rollerbladers:)

Anonymous said...

I was there a month after the attacks. The city is still reeling a bit, but it's mostly business as usual, because what the hell else are you supposed to do?

We went down to the Gateway of India one day, on the seafront adjacent to the Taj Hotel, and usually full of tourists. It was as busy as ever with Indians, but very few westerners to be seen. They've installed a sandbag barricade and a metal detector as you enter the plaza area, but there's no one actually attending the metal detector, so people crowd through it two or three at a time and it goes off constantly and no one pays any attention.

Anonymous said...

Munni,
no surprise, if the mental detector goes off with you around:-)

Anonymous said...

Offie,

I'd hate to get caught agreeing with you, but the photo gave me exactly the same momentary flashback location to the same spot (August of 1966 for me).

But could it be there is a generic promenade each person responds to, replacing all others with the one he/she chooses to "remember"?

Anonymous said...

August 1966!??!

Yeah, that brings back a few memories too. Of the intrauterine variety.

Anonymous said...

Offside--

Yes, contrary to some current opinion, the world did exist not only during but before 1966; and regrettably perhaps, some survive to (however fuzzily) remember it.

An anecdote floats into one's "mind"...

Lolling about then upon that promenade, one was engaged in idle chat by a seemingly congenial young English itinerant--his nationality being quite literally worn upon his sleeve, as he was attired in a shirt seemingly fashioned from a Union Jack: a style move evidently copied from the Portobello Road fashions of the time, made famous by the members of the Who, who (who?), as one dimly recalls, sported similar garb on an album cover.

Overcome by the contagious largesse of that relatively carefree epoch, and learning the young fellow had nowhere to lay his head in the night, one impulsively invited him back to one's humble digs perched in the hills above the town of Vence. Whence he then came, pitched his sleeping bag in a wee cabin on the premises, stayed to dine, settled in, slept and dined again...and again..and again...

Artistically advantageous as it may seem to end this anecdote by relating that the young traveler/freeloader of this tale later went on to become the front man of a major rock band, or perhaps a member of the Cabinet, alas one never saw him again...after, that is, he had spent the remainder of that summer lodged immoveably upon the premises.

This story is shared with you, Offie, as an indirect caveat, should you ever be tempted to actually follow through upon your offer to invite all and sundry to join you in your hideaway in that Pakalolan Paradise of yours. You may find that, to paraphrase the schmaltzy line from Field of Dreams, If You Invite us, We Will Come...and never leave. Cuidado!

Anonymous said...

Guess who is coming to diner? .....and never leaves.

Anonymous said...

Munni: I found this shot which appears nearby to yours--slightly longer view:

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p161179-Mumbai-Marine_Drive.jpg

offsideintahiti said...

BtP,

I once picked up the same type of itinerant youth, only a French one this time(a stray Alsatian) in Baltimore, County Cork. The ensuing fortnight was a great exercise in hint-dropping, and I must have become quite good at it because he eventually got the message.

However, an invitation is an invitation. The Offside Cabin is humble but the door is wide open to Otherstuffers, Pseudies and assorted web creatures.

Proof of identity will be required for admittance (in HTMLDNA format).

Zephirine said...

Just as soon as I win the lottery, Offie...

Anonymous said...

Are you at least playing?

Zephirine said...

Oh yes.

Anonymous said...

I only play this way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIE-7ROd-Pw&feature=related

Find yourself a charity ...

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