Better discovered late, than never

Every time we plan to 'get away' for a bit, we hesitate to make it a long vacation, or one far away (with too few exceptions). So Mysore has pretty much seen the four of us heading it's way more often than in other directions. Small though it is, the city did offer up a surprise in the Windflower. Almost at the foot of Chamundi Hills, you will surely miss it's presence behind the Olive Garden restaurant, unless you're headed straight for it. Some pics from our last trip there...

Buddha outside the entrance to the spa... serenity starts here.

The backyards that house the outdoor shower for each ground floor room have red brick walls with just the right amount of green.

A long 'pond' forms the water body behind the cottages and it catches some amazing light.

The pond overlooking the cottages.

Mini oranges! That plenty of care goes into keeping the greenery so appealing and somewhat natural is very evident.
The walkway to the pool and restaurant.

The cottages are done up well, colors mixed well. The only unpleasant piece of design, if I can call it that, is the king size bed, which is placed on a platform with steps. If you don't watch out, bruised knees and shins are guaranteed.
Another view of the pond.

The pool is designed to stay a little private and still very open.

The swans don't look out of their element at all.

Blogger's block

What do you call the feeling that you get when too may random, completely diverse thoughts run through your head? And I don't mean run through your head occasionally. They run all the time. They're so quick and fast following one another that one cannot stop long enough to dwell on any one, to blog a significant length about it. Blogger's block?

Samples from today:

Some lives are like a lit cigarette. Once they are lit, even if you don't drag on them or blow to ignite further, they will burn anyway, though insignificantly, till they burn out.

How I wish I had entered that Peony Jade restaurant in Singapore. The name is so quaint and a perfect candidate for getting into an oriental mystery. If I'd peeked at the interiors, it would have been fodder for a story, perhaps.

I saw the minutest bug on an ochre yellow tile in my balcony. It was just a speck of dirt that didn't move. Till it did. I imagine that's exactly what we'd look like to observers in a far away galaxy.

Sea blue pilings by the pool, mini oranges by the sidewalks, serene Buddha by the spa, cobbled grey walkways and rust red outdoor showers - few places bring together the colors of nature as harmoniously as at the Windflower, Mysore.

The last thought is the only one I've put into action. It made me up and create a collage for my blog header. Pics in the collage: Windflower, Mysore; my water lily, my begonia in bloom, the Peony Jade and arbit buildings in Singapore.

Hopefully now I'll write about these places that impressed me.

How an eve-teaser becomes a role model

I've heard many people admire the Linea ads on the tele. They say they're mellow and refreshing, from the other in-your-face ads. I've heard it from colleagues and I've heard from the neighbouring tables at Coffee Days and Baristas.

While the first in the series might have been really so, I beg to differ on the second. Mellow, OK. Nice soundtrack, apt for what the car is supposed to do to you, OK. What beats me is how an eve teaser depicted as a role model for his younger brother is going down so well with people. You know the ad I'm talking about. Two brothers, the older whistling at a girl, while the younger (he couldn't be more than ten) looks on admiringly. He's thinking 'man, when am I going to be able to whistle like that? What an absolutely marvelous talent it must be, to be able to whistle like that a girl!'. Then he practices, poor kid, while the older brother actually benignly walks around him with a shake of the head. And then, he sees a Linea and the talent comes to him.

Now I don't care if boys whistle, or not, at a Linea. But I do, if the wolf whistle at a girl is being shoved at millions of viewers as a perfectly proper role-modelish thing to do.

And of course, the girl only smiles and walks by. That the smile is saying 'it's naughty but ok' is even more astonishing. But duh. Where have we see THAT stereotype before? Only in a million ads and movie songs, adding fuel to male imaginations that whistling, and eve teasing, sometimes dangerous eve teasing, is just what the girls are desperately waiting for.

Why am I picking on this one particular ad, when there are b'zillion of them out there? Because it's starting to take sexism where it should leave well alone. To children.

It's definitely not the first time children have been used in discriminatory ads. But that's another post.