Girls of Mumbai

The Worli Girls of Mumbai

I was out walking in near Worli in Mumbai when I came across these two girls brushing their teeth on the side of the street. The girl on the left asked to have her photo taken. The girl on the right seemed unsure. Their father was outside of camera range encouraging them.

One of the surprises of India was how frequently the poor approached asking to be photographed. At first I assumed people thought I carried an instant camera. Not so, they just liked to be photographed.

Click the Pic. to visit My Neighborhood in Juhu on LostBob's Blog.

To see more photos of the Girls of Mumbai please visit My Juhu Neighbors and Mumbai PhotoSets on Flickr.

My Room in St Kilda

This was once my room at the Hotel Tolarno in St Kilda in Melbourne, Australia. Part of the adjacent building was removed during a restoration. Suddenly I had a view. I like this one better. You won’t see it in tourist brochures.

Hotel Tolarno is a terrific little boutique hotel right on Fitzroy in the heart of Saint Kilda. I highly recommend it. While in Melbourne be sure to check out the Royal Exhibition Hall. I am pretty sure it is the largest wooden structure in the southern hemisphere.

I like to take pictures of and through windows. I have posted a few favorites in Windows around the World. I have been trying to learn a bit about a couple of photo hosting sites. I am looking for comments on the pictures and their presentation.

The Neighborhood Bar

Sea View Hotel - Juhu Beach, Mumbai

Everyone needs a neighborhood bar; a place to unwind and kickback with friends after work. In Prague it was U-Maleho Glena. In 1996 that was the best bar in the world. I have pictures and stories to prove it. Vaclav Havel stopped by one Sunday night to hear some jazz. Woody Harrelson stopped in once to drink absinth and hit on Maggie.

While in Jakarta, the neighborhood bar was Elvis’ Bar. They had great food, pool tables and dart boards. They had 2 for 1 on drinks at happy hour. You could phone in your drink order before 7PM and secure the happy hour prices for a later arrival. They had a great Indonesian band that did all the standard covers. A standout was Knockin on Heavens’ Door done Guns ‘n Roses style. There was another Elvis in Singapore.

For a brief time my neighborhood bar was at the Hotel Tolarno in St Kilda. Incredible food, the owner is a famous Melbourne television chef. The bar had a great music collection including some Ry Cooder music.

My neighborhood bar in Dubai was Jules Bar, In Avezzano it was Joyce’s Pub. It was once the Bentz Street Raw Bar in Frederick. I miss that one.

For nearly a year my neighborhood bar was the deck at The Sea View Hotel at Juhu Beach in Mumbai. I would have Kingfisher beer and freshly made paneer tika in the evening after work. I could watch the sea, the people, the sunset and the human powered Farris wheel from the deck. It was the best place to be in Mumbai. My apartment was in the Hotel Emerald just down the street. Or the beach, depending on my mood.

I am home now and I haven't found my neighborhood bar.

Maastricht Reflections

Shop windows in Maastricht, Netherlands March, 2003


I was working in Dubai during the lead up to the war in Iraq. When George Bush issued his 48 hour ultimatum I was directed to leave on the next available flight. I was flying to Frankfurt when the war broke out. Air traffic disruption added 2 hours to flight time. I left my baggage in the left-luggage office at the airport and took the train to Maastricht. I know some folks at a great little bar called Blues Café’ Duke there. I tagged along to an Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets concert at the Muziekodroom in Hasselt, Belgium about 25 km away. They're a great band and they kicked ass. The venue reminded me of the Grand Emporium in Kansas City where I saw them once before. I took these photos back in Maastricht the next morning.

Click onthe pictures to see them full size on my Flickr photosharing site.

A Day at the Races

Porsche Carrera GT 666

Taken at Dubai's Autodrome in October of 2004 on the day of the inaugural race for the newly opened track. It was a typical warm and sunny Dubai day. I was there with my friends Wageh who is Egyptian and Stephen from Scotland. Sergei was home in Kazan on paternity leave enjoying his recently born son.

Stephen honeymooned in Cuba and now lives in Mexico. Wageh is married to a Moroccan woman. We used to smoke sheesha and watch the Dhows and Abras (Dubai’s water taxis) at the creek side Lebanese restaurant in Bur Dubai.

I was told that this car is owned by Dubai's Sheik Maktoum. He drove a U.S. made Dodge Viper in the feature race on that opening day. I don't recall where he finished.

My friend Amos Anon says "The world is a very strange place" I think he is right.

You can read another post about the Sheik's cars in The Cars of the Beast Check it out.

Note: All Links in this post (except the last) open in a single new window.

Self Portrait

At the Race, Dubai 2004

It's not my car.

For many years, I was a telecomm engineer. I lived and worked all over the world.

I put satellite communications equipment on planes trains and automobiles; I installed equipment in the White House and the Pentagon and designed stuff for the folks at Fort Meade. My name is on patents for the satellite telephone system used by the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

I was paid to play in private jets, high speed chase boats, railroad locomotives and over-the-road trucks. They paid me to fly over Juneau Alaska in a float plane and over Utah’s canyon lands in a helicopter. I flew over the great salt lake and Colorado Rockies in the cockpit of a Lear. I drove from Tuscan to Tucumcari and Tehachapi to Tonopah (and from Berlin to Paris. And Melbourne to Brisbane). I drove jeeps over sand dunes in the Arabian Desert. It was a magic carpet ride.

Told differently, I was away from home 50 weeks a year, working 60 – 80 hours a week and living in hotels. I got close to a lot of really nice places with little time to see them.

Either way, I loved what I did but came to dislike the folks I did it for so we parted company . I’m whittling away at my savings and bored out of my mind. That’s still a better than working for thieves, even thieves with magic carpet rides.

Thank you very much Rupert, changing the name does not protect the innocent, or hide the guilty.

This blog is an attempt to put it all in some perspective and help me decide what I want to be when I grow up.

I’m too old to become a postal employee.