Ok see those little wooden pieces on the green cloth there? Those are hand carved blocks for printing Indian textiles. I am trying to buy them but these two terrors each grab a hand and begin madly stamping me! Now by the strong chemical smell I know immediately that this isn't henna but textile printing ink that they are embellishing me with! So after the hand rape I successfully barter for three of the wood blocks.
Once back to the hotel I washed my arms and hands and was left with an awesome henna looking design, and this weird tingling feeling in my arms and hands for about two days.
What you guys can't see is that 5 days later my skin started peeling off from the ink. I now have a lovely paisley shaped scar on my left arm where the ink seems to have, erm, caused the most damage.
Ok, but fear not! About four days later I returned and found the same ladies on the street and I haggled my ass off until I got 4 more wood blocks for quite the dealsteal.
In a rickshaw after the "attack!"
Ok here's the Musical Part....
When I am in India, I watch a lot of tv at night. At home, I don't have television, so channel surfing is a rare treat reserved only for journeys involving hotel rooms. I have by this time a few favorites that I look forward to watching such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Travel and Leisure, MTV India and FTV.
FTV is all fashion all the time, and the locals call it "Indian porn" because they get to oogle at semi bare breasted models parading down various worldly runways. (Imagine this, it's Friday night in the village, and all the men have gathered at the only tea stall in town with a tv to watch Fashion TV. It's an amusing image that, no matter how hard I try, I cannot erase from my memory.) As much as they love their models, so do I. But alas! I do believe that FTV has been removed from the menus of Indian televisions so as to calm the lingam!
Of course there are plenty of Indian channels broadcasting religion, subcontinental novellas, old Hindi films, Bollywood, news, all in Hindi of course, and then again, in English, or Kannada, or Telag....Telagu...something like that...
I totally forgot where I was going with this...Oh yeah! That also every year in India, I find at least one new band, musician or whatever to get into. (It's NEVER an Indian performer, lol!)
This year I discovered Des'ree. Now remember, I'm an American with no tv, in India, watching international tv, so I have no idea if any of you have heard of Des'ree or not, or even where she's from. So here she is, Des'ree singing Life. I really like this song, it's happy and fun and uplifting. I hope you will enjoy it too.
I want my FTV!
This year I discovered Des'ree. Now remember, I'm an American with no tv, in India, watching international tv, so I have no idea if any of you have heard of Des'ree or not, or even where she's from. So here she is, Des'ree singing Life. I really like this song, it's happy and fun and uplifting. I hope you will enjoy it too.
I want my FTV!
**UPDATE** LOL Ok, Bryan has come up with this hilarious bit about Des'ree.
In spring of 2007, Des'ree was voted the worst pop lyricist of all time for the song "Life" according to a BBC Radio poll.
Now isn't that just like me to pick someone with that sorta fame..sigh. Better not watch it then, I know you'll hate it!
I never said she was awesome, I just said that I liked the song, sheesh!
8 comments:
Your hands look amazing but... ouch.
I remember women putting their hands over their ogling toddlers eyes when they launched FTV. & such shocked expression on their faces you cannot fathom how much :D
They sure thought it was porn.
But what is more shocking that porn in India is up at my blog right now in its resplendent starkness, which I extort you to see.
holy crap, what is in the textile ink that it made your skin peel and left a scar????
congrats on acquiring the blocks though.
Life, oh life...
I like the song but never heard of her. It sounds like she pretty much stayed over in Brittan and Europe and not so much here. I did find a trivia fact about this particular song...
In spring of 2007, Des'ree was voted the worst pop lyricist of all time for the song "Life" according to a BBC Radio poll.
For some reason as I read about what all the Indian channels broadcast I could not help but think about an old TV show called Jonny Quest which drove me crazy because I could not remember the name of the show or much of anything other than he had a dog named Bandit and a friend named Hadji.
I must admit the ink patterns look cool but it was not so cool what it did. You got tattoos without even asking for them.
I love the beat and the way it sounds. The lyrics are a little repetative but hey, I listen to the music more than I do the lyrics usually. I join you on beating to your own drum.
Kind of interesting crop dusting with butterflies.
My goodness, I would have freaked out if my skin started tingling and peeling of course I have extremely sensitive skin.
Are you back in the states yet? I can't remember when you said you were coming home.
I like the song Life..I have heard it before but I still like it, I think it has a nice beat to it.
You have a good day Ms. Susie!
LOL love your mitts there in the rickshaw.!!
That is incredible those blocks and your attack - looking forward to looking at the actual blocks - not good that it hurt you - ouch - good thing you always wash these fabrics before you sew with them!!!! Aurevoir!
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