[Locality]-cha Raja's final journey

Transliteration inherently involves some loss where the new script has limitations (see: கோகுல் /kogul!) but an interesting phenomenon is when it takes on the inflections of the new language. Just within a few hundred metres of where I am, you can "navy" being written as नेव्ही (nevhi) and "stores" स्टोअर्स (stoars), even when it is entirely possible to write them without the extra letters. This is indeed how they are said; the transliteration is less to do with reproducing the original word and more to do with putting down the local interpretation of it, in the local script.
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Today marks Anant Chaturdasi, the tenth day following Vinayaka Chaturthi and the (final) day that Ganesha idols are immersed in water. For historical reasons, this event is a massive, massive event in Mumbai. Huge crowds in long lines gather to get a darshan of the deity, and still bigger crowds usher the lord through the streets on Visarjan day.
The glamour of the whole affair makes one think about how far removed the festival has become from its roots, and even from its reincarnation as a way to unite Indians under the British. What does it say about devotees' faith, if they have to insure their idol for tens of crores of rupees? More troubling to me is the willingness to spend weeks creating the idol, worshipping it for ten days and then drop it into the polluted ocean; inversely, the willingness to release Plaster-of-Paris idols painted in dangerous heavy metals into the ocean, indeed a divinity in its own right. 
To mitigate the environmental damage, the BMC introduced artificial ponds for immersion a few years ago, but the purpose is being defeated as the water is pumped untreated into stormwater drains which eventually reach the sea. 
The PoP idol remnants are crushed into smaller pieces and transported to construction companies. Surely this is a jarring fate for the idol? I wonder if this even crosses the minds of the throngs of devotees. The tradition of immersing a clay idol in a (local, natural, clean) water body holds symbolic significance, and while one aim is to probably discourage people from becoming too attached to the idol and recognising the eternal divinity... this rather warped version of that very much confuses me. 
That said, a show of celebration and devotional abandon is a beautiful thing; different cities have their version of that, and the spirit of this one is like no other.

Museum Musings

Another interesting study in how different cities evolve different solutions to day-to-day problems: how do different bus conductors let the driver know he can move? Of course the "whistle podu" city involves the conductor blowing a whistle; in Mumbai buses, a length of string with a bell attached runs along the length of the bus, which the conductor can tug from wherever on the bus he is. (The latter seems possibly conducive to misuse but clearly it has not been a problem.)

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Looking like a proper tourist, replete with cap and sling bag, I finally made my first visit to the museum since moving. Hopefully the first of several - I spent two-and-a-half hours there and still covered less than half of it.

My South Indian temple/Chithra Madhavan-loving self was obviously drawn to the sculpture gallery first. There is a high representation of sculptures from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat - after all, the museum was once the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. Hindu gods and goddesses stand in a gallery adjacent to a separate one for Buddhist and Jain sculpture. There is also a metal sculpture gallery with bronze statues as well as objects.

I found the most unique gallery to be the Himalayan art gallery. A collection of statues, paintings and other objects from the Tibetan and nearby regions, the gallery is curated with care to actually simulate the feel of the place (barring temperature!). 

The other standout was the personal collections of Ratan and Dorabji Tata. Spanning European paintings and Oriental snuff-boxes, it was a visual treat but more so a reminder of the scale of their wealth. Was it really a coincidence that a student at Tata Institute spent an afternoon looking at the Tata brothers' belongings? 

I also visited the miniature painting and Krishna galleries. A personal favourite from the latter was a visual representation of the Madhurashtakam in praise of Lord Krishna - after all, I did listen to MS Subbulakshmi's rendition every day for a long time. 

The audio guides were definitely made for foreigners, (I'm talking explicit recommendations for things to see and buy during "your stay in India") so a lot of the information was not new. Some was though, and I do think a lot of Indians could stand to learn about the "lost wax method" and Buddhist history.  

Flora Fountain is a short walk from the museum (well, short if you can determinedly walk past the piles of second-hand books without getting distracted).

Do stay tuned for further museum visit logs! There was an entire block I didn't visit. Until then, a virtual high-five for anyone who can spot my reflection in one of the photos.