Justice delayed, justice denied

India does big numbers. But sometimes they’re really big. In the paper this morning a report that there are 54,000 cases pending before the supreme court, a further 4.18 million before the various high courts and an amazing 28 million cases before the subordinate courts (or which 20 million are criminal cases). That’s a lot of files.

Pics from the Kolkata court precinct

87654, 2:06

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, one of Mumbai's main train stations has all the clatter you'd expect in a place of comings and goings. It opened in 1888 and 120 years later bad souls cut loose on its platforms and killed 50 people with Ak's and granades. But you wouldn't know it. Like with so many other things in India, people just brush themselves off and get on with it, no memorialising or wallowing. It's still a train station and a gathering place, and a place of hellos and goodbyes. I love that about India - people are so resilient in the face of adversity.

light, platform, people, puddle

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai

I love a city that puffs its chest out

and then wears its name in gold stars on a t-shirt. Puff-chested BIDIP T-shirts coming soon to a city near you...

Not to state the obvious ...

but how tough are the people who live under bridges... Respect.

Traffic rainbow

The following might sound like total hippy nonsense but w'eva. I was in dense bumpertobumper traffic tonight and the sky was dark with an imminent downpour. To my right in the backseat of an old Maruti-Suzuki hatchback sat a green-sari'ed lady. She was twisted around looking up at the sky through an open window with a beaming smile on her face. The light caught the white of her upturned eyes. I glanced at my blackberry and back again - she was still staring up and BEAMING. Check that out - why is she so friggin happy - is she channeling the Dalai Lama? I looked up and there, in the brooding 7pm Delhi sky was a rainbow - not the best ever, but a nice little rainbow. I looked back at the lady and she was totally transfixed on this sky-miracle, a mary poppins look of innocent pleasure on her face. And I thought ain't that nice. All these half-empty-glassers honking their horns and railing at the bullshit traffic and over there is a solitary half fuller soaking up the dramatic sky with its sash of magic colour. So, thanks sari lady - you made me smile. I'll smell the roses tonight.

Kid. car window.

No taxis

Taxi rank: Mumbai airport - Friday 7pm. There are no cabs in cooee and a long queue stand in line. The suited bloke next to me is fuming, railing through wild eyes against a system that has failed. He breathes fire in the direction of a tubby policeman who he reckons is in on the scam. The word is rain and traffic have conspired with the mercenary tendencies of Mumbai's cabbies to screw us all. No cabs, customers accumulating, and a bidding war has begun far away from the rank. Another bloke defends the cabbies - 'just rational behaviour... they see an opportunity and they're taking it.' And so we all stand, waiting, arguing, hoping that playing by the rules might deliver us a ride home. The man in suit moves onto politics - 'if we don't do anything nothing will ever change, the criminals just keep getting away with it.' He points at me - the very symbol of foreignness in my farangi uniform of shorts and t-shirt. 'Look at how the world sees us. They know it shouldn't be like this'. I speak on behalf of the world - 'our cabs are crap too'. His anger turns to purple and he storms off to yell at some people in colourful Marathi. In ten minutes he returns with a cab by the scruff of the neck. He points at me and yells 'get in!' I obey and shake his hand in thanks - he yells louder 'get in now!'. And as I ride off into the Mumbai streets, driven by a wizened old driver whose ear is still ringing with the verbal belting he's received, I look back to see the argument continue - raised arms and raised voices jousting in complete agreement.

3pm: Cloud burst

As seen through a wall of water on a car window - a waftified, defocused, water colour vibe. I love the way Mumbai deals with the rain. It comes down, people find a roof of any kind, stand around, meet some new folks, and then when the rain is gone they get on with their journey and the hubbub of the street returns.

Mahim bay, Mumbai

This pic is a little bit amped up (no shit!).

Juhu beach. wet

This kid breaks rocks.

But he has nice palm trees in his village.

This bloke once ruled the state in which the kid breaks rocks. Here is his NYT obituary which details his exploits as a 'pilot patriot'. Some of the stories are certainly worthy of a statue at the airport. His son is now the Chief Minister of the same state.

Yogic snoozing

A school in Orissa

Monsoon and the vegie patch

Things that like Monsoons: Zucchinis, Basil, Delhi street dogs

Things that don't like Monsoons: Sage, Oregano, Thyme, Parsley, Rocket, Capsicum, Chilies, the many cows that pace my street looking pissy

Things that are thoroughly confused by Monsoons: Tomatoes, Me, Indian weather forecasters.

NB: variable could also be my gardening ability ('experimental incompetence'), and my ability to read the mood of wild animals.

You just gotta love a well packed truck

Somewhere hot and dusty in Orissa

Old Delhi's shemozzle of a bus station....

Space invader on the ganga

In one of the stranger artistic interventions I've seen in India, Space Invader did his thing in Varanasi. 100 points. It kind of fits in...

See more HERE

Some days the bottlo can't open early enough...