Soap for Jains and Hindus (and 18+...)

We're at Hema's parents' home in Bangalore. It's wonderful. So far I've had tea, a nap, and watched some cricket. Or I watched the advertisements, and Hema's dad watched the game (New Zealand vs. India).

The ads were mostly for cars, men's scents and internet. One commercial was for "18+"—the deodorant that thinks it's a perfume.

They showed four different packages at the end. One had words over it so I couldn't read it, but the other three were called

• License to Surprise
• License to Date
• License to Thrill

I'm assuming it's popular among males who are UNDER 18. 🙂

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I really liked this detail, on a bottle of liquid hand soap:

I'm used to anti-bacterial hand soap that kills germs. Here, it's not "anti-" anything. It's very peaceful, in fact. The germs are simply removed. Safe for Jains and Hindus.

Bamboo Scaffolding

This has been up for at least a week:



It's lashed with twine.

The Attachment Parenting talk at Pushpa's

On Sunday, October 31, there was a VERY well-attended discussion on attachment parenting, organized by Pushpa Ramachandran in her home in Pune, in India. Her husband, Anand, set up a projector and we had Schuyler and David Waynforth live on Skype (they were home in Norfolk, England). It was really wonderful to have them involved that way. Thank you, Pushpa, for the photos and videos of the day!

The webpage that goes with all this is here:
http://sandradodd.com/attachmentparenting

The Littlest Rangoli

In the corner between the stairs and the door of a flat was a tiny patch of rangoli.





(other rangoli examples, from google images)

and what we did with Hema in Albuquerque in 2009: Rangoli on Sunday

Two historic temples

Yesterday Pradnya and Sameer took me to see an 8th Century site right next to a 19th century site, both temples. The first is called The Pataleshwar Cave Temple, and is a complex of temples hewn of solid rock, including the images—all carved in one giant sculpture. I was trying not to use any flash inside, so I don't have as many photos as I have memories, but there are some parts I can show you.

More info and from a totally unrelated conference site*, this description:

Pataleshwar Caves : Pataleshwar Cave Temple is also known as Panchaleshwar or Bamburde. It is rock cut excavation of the Rashtrakuta period (8-9rh century A. D.) The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The central shrine houses a linga and there are two smaller cells on either side. In front of the cave is the circular Nandi- Mandapa. Massive square plane pillars support the umbrella shaped canopy of the Nandi-Mandapa,

There is a circular monument in the first area, with a cow facing the temple, and then the temple proper, which looks like this inside: There was a slideshow here which doesn't work anymore; sorry.

Within the grounds of that temple were smaller shrines, maybe not as old, all with worshippers, some with people sitting or sleeping.


Right next to that is the 19th Century Jangli Maharaj (Wild Saint) Temple, which is a shrine to a holy man whose arms were so long his hands reached his knees, and because he attained enlightenment in his lifetime, he was enshrined rather than cremated. (I used to have a link to more info, but in 2020, it has gone bad.)

Outside, beautiful lettering, in chalk, out in the open:



A big shoe rack (I've started photographing shoe racks), and it wasn't very busy that day (Monday, November 1):



The approach to the shrine, all covered, with large glass jar-like globes hanging in the ceiling:



Just before the elevated place where the saint was:





There were English Victorian floral tiles, the kind that are on the splashboards of wash stands in England, in a couple of patterns on the floor and facing the steps.




(A clearer copy of that image, with animated lamps like the one below, which is behind the shrine, is here: vishwatmak.org/. He has current followers, and a website.)



The exit gate, right on the street:

Banyan Tree

This is Tejas, Sameer and Pradnya, beneath a huge, beautiful banyan tree
on November 1:

A camel, and horses

Worst photo of a camel ever:



But here's the story. Sunday we left the house and I didn't have a camera. I said "What if I saw a camel caravan and didn't have my camera?" and then I thought that was really silly to even think; there wasn't going to be a camel.

The next day, out with my camera but not looking for a camels, there was a camel.



I also saw horses, and light-colored ones (Steve Muhlberger had commented in his India notes that the horses seemed to be all dark colored). I saw a fluffy-coated almost gold colored one with a darker foal, grazing near the road. I didn't get a photo.

Later in the day there was a group of nomads with horses, but my camera wasn't set well and the sun was in a bad place. This will help my own memories, but no one else's clarity. There were some children, several women, and a couple of men. The horses were pack horses with two big baskets on top of most of them--on either side, but not down, like saddle bags, up on top. On top of enough cloth to have been tents, possibly. There were probably sixteen horses or maybe more. We were moving pretty quickly, and they were spread out a bit, into four different groups, moving on the side of the road, as the people were all on foot.