Memory Foam And Mildew

Travel to India. Part IV: Samode, Jaipur Amber Fort

India is divided into states, and each time we passed by one, the driver stopped and paid a toll. Rural India consists of people of low houses that dot the road, nearly all without lights, and the road also appears to be the town's main artery. The technique is slow at the entrance of the village will plant two hurdles on the road, in the form of an arrowhead. Then enters a market, throughout the town, which sells everything and stopping places where truck drivers stop their trucks Tata along with the camels, and sit on makeshift stools at the door of a bar for refreshments. All trucks are tuned in a very characteristic, with bands and curtains, and hand-painted sign that reads "Horn Please" (Pete, please.) And this is how, in fact, occur in India overtaking, the car arrives, it hits all you can, pita, and the truck or whatever, they'll slowly to one side (right or left, it gives equal). Apart from people, you can also find small shrines to Hindu gods. The land is dry. No water is visible, or looks very little. Our first destination is

Samode, a Maharaja's palace, where he lived with his Maharajaní (his wife), and about fifty or a hundred concubines. Today it is a hotel, and kept in good been a handful of units and rooms, richly furnished and decorated with frescoes and engravings, furniture finished in silver and antique rugs, and why you walk like he owned the place.

The next destination was the city of Jaipur, the Pink City. So called because all the houses are pink (though many are falling to pieces). There are two distinct Jaipur: ancient and modern. Jaipur is the new wide avenues and modern buildings such as shopping malls and hotel complexes (like ours) insurgent strongholds middle of nowhere. The old Jaipur is a walled, with several narrow doors where traffic flows (such as) in both directions. Jaipur have to see the Palace of Winds, and the Maharaja's Palace museum in Jaipur. The Palace of Winds is a small palace with lots of small windows. No one can enter, only seen from the outside.

The other visit is the Palace Museum, or rather a room annex to the present abode of the Maharaja of Jaipur. On the way he ran into a stereotype out of a comic Mortadelo: a snake charmer with his basket, his flute, his turban and snake. Unfortunately I did not have time to take pictures (other than that you ask for money for the picture, of course).

On the outskirts of Jaipur, we were taken on a visit to Amber Fort, a fortress on a mountain, former residence of Maharajas (with wives and concubines included). Up to the castle is done on elephant back, in a climb up the ramp to the castle, which is a veritable procession of elephants with tourists, ending in a large courtyard. Amber Fort Palace is divided into several units, with architectural and decorative elements very characteristic style blending Hindu Muslim influence, using materials ranging from red sandstone to white marble. There is a court hearing with elegant columns topped by elephants holding lotus flowers, and a gazebo with marble columns and arches Islamic style. Inside we see the palace, which is organized around a rectangular garden divided into four sections with a fountain in the center, and a wing with a courtyard or four isolated corners, one for each of the four official wives.

Our next destination we neared the end of the trip: Fathepur Sikri, Agra, the Taj Mahal and Red Fort . In the next and final delivery.

Technorati tags: India , Jaipur, Amber Fort

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About the film of the Chronicles of Narnia

I went to the cinema to see the second part of the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian . I liked the movie, but the first part. It is entertaining, has adventures, some good special effects, and certain script and empty planes where continuing to feel the influence of Lord of the Rings, but that's not what I wanted to comment on this entry.

Aside from getting a high value on child factor (the room was full of children, and everyone was quiet and still), this film was something that really catches my attention, and I wanted to comment here, if any reader of CS Lewis can provide information. Summarized in two points:

1. The protagonists are some kids who, while in London, they behave like children their age, but when they arrive in Narnia, is that they are seasoned experts in the body combat with swords, daggers , bows and arrows (and flashlights!).
2. When entering combat on the battlefield, these children (how many years have, 16, 18, 20?) Become less than the smallest of the four wild beasts killing machines, stringing and slaughtering soldiers twice their age, without the slightest hint of doubt or remorse.

still remember when I read through the desert and jungle , Sienkiewicz, written back in 1912, and how the child protagonist begins to mourn when people recount their adventures, admits he had to kill a man ( one only!) in self defense. Those of Narnia, among the three are charged to half a battalion.

Technorati tags: Chronicles of Narnia , film

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trip to India. Part III: Delhi (market, mosque, Qtub Minar)

After a brief visit to the place where Gandhi was cremated, where we met with a feverish crowd of people singing praises to Shiva, our guide asked if we wanted to tour the Old Delhi market, and we, naïve, said yes.

From that moment began an amazing journey of one-hour drive mounted on a tricycle through the streets of the market. The best I can do is describe a little what I saw there, and catch a few pictures for you will see it for yourselves: is a neighborhood of narrow, dirty and narrow, and low houses linked together by a tangle of cables. The tents are rectangular rooms without doors or windows that open directly onto the street, and they sell everything from carpets, fabrics for clothing, pottery ... There are butchers where gender is exposed vivo (goats, chickens), optical colorful posters that advertise on "Computerized eye-testing or bars where food sold in bags that I can not classify. There are a lot of people, many carrying objects from one place to another, by hand or in cars, copper plates, cages of chickens, bricks, bundles on their heads ... In addition to people and cars, there are tricycles, Bikes, dogs and cows that walk on their free will, and should not be disturbed.

Taped to the market there is a mosque, the largest in India, as our guide. It also tells us that the majority religion in India is Hindu, and Muslims are a minority, 14% of the population, approximately. That, in a country that has about 1100 million inhabitants, means that some 154 million Indians are Muslims, having cities and entire states where Islam is the religion of the majority, like Uttar Pradesh, which is where the Taj Mahal.

The last trip of the day is to Qtub Minar, an esplanade in gardens where stands a minaret attached to a mosque, apparently one of the oldest in India, built by the early Muslims who came to these lands, subjecting the indigenous inhabitants. In fact, the mosque is built on Hindu temples demolished material, and that gives it a special and unique architecture.

As a final point, that day was New Year's Eve. After an impressive dinner buffet in the hotel, at 12 pm in Spain (4:30 am EDT India) we ate a little container of 12 peeled grapes in syrup that we had brought for the occasion.

The next day we left to continue the circuit. In the next installment, a portrait of rural India, Samode Palace and a look at the city of Jaipur. I hope you do not leave tired because I still have four days of intense experiences to tell.

In my flickr page can see more pictures of the men here.

Technorati tags: India , Delhi

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I do not understand politics but ... Why not vote

Today on the radio I heard several times that phrase and others that mean same. "I do not understand politics, but ...". You do not know politics. Come on, do not waste time to inform you, as I did not lose in learning about professional football.

So much good, because everyone cares about what he wants. The problem is that it has always been followed by something like "... I voted for so and so, because he has done wrong Somebody's niece" or "Somebody's niece ... I voted for so and so lied.."

to see that I have learned, if you are not interested in politics, why vote? What do you base your vote? You think it's right do your part to elect the government that will govern the social and economic destiny of your country in the next 4 years without Having A reported before at all?

I think not. In this country gives us the right to vote. And we have a duty to carry out this duty to fully and responsibly.

And you, are you informing you of which you vote? "Without inform? Did not you vote? What do you think?

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Tomorrow, as I do for years, will not vote. Why? For the following reasons: First

: I have to whom to vote. There is no party with which I see represented. Those who are to govern, have never had to come just at the end of the month. Never have had to find a floor knowing they had a good chance of going drowned the following years. They have had difficulty finding a decent job with decent wages (indeed, many have not worked in his life.) And as a button. not engaged to ensure my interests but the interests of those who fund them and then are placed on their "advisors" when squeezed political life. I could go on ad infinitum, but with these few examples I think it has become clear. Second

: The population is not serious about the election process. As I mentioned in my last post, most is believed that this is football. Do not read or the election manifestos of the parties they go to vote, nor that of the alternatives. So vote with the information absorbed by the media (go blind). Or directly go to vote blindly choosing (of these and I know several). Third

: I disagree with the law regulating elections ( Organic Law on General Elections ). Blank votes only serve to exclude minority parties, the allocation of seats is the circus, and more things as I describe in another post.

And yes, I have a right to complain. I've been paying taxes every month since 17, so I can complain about how they spend my money.

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morning and football policy

solar was going to a rant as a comment in the post kiko on data manipulation by our political leaders , but I'm going to expound here. He has been

years from that policy in this country seems increasingly football. Here everyone is a party as if it were a team. We have our media stars to which they are encouraged by the street, they ask for autographs, which we touch, we take pictures with them ... We try not to think about all the money they earn stolen or left steal win his cronies. In chats, defend and attack our party to the other, when both are indefensible and attackable.

And all without seeing our reality, which send the boss, big companies continue to increase their economic figures (of course the economy grows, but not exactly that of those who work). And then we sweat it. Nobody reads the manifestos and no matter if they are not met (which is what they always do).

The difference of football and politics, is that in football players alone win, and win political cronies and we all lose. Let's see when we realize and we take a little more seriously. Anyway

. A march. And to complain. This is Spain.

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Travel to India. Part II: Delhi (India Gate, Hindu temple, Sikh temple)

The trip to India was a circuit employed with a company from Valencia. We thought we'd go on a bus with a group of Europeans, but it was not. Leaving the hotel we found a large Toyota with a driver and a guide, only for my wife and me.

Although the streets are wide, three or four lanes in both directions, traffic in Delhi is a mess, if we thought that Bangalore was bad, every city we were then it got worse (perhaps the fact that cars and motorcycles have to share the street with elephants and camels have something to do). Delhi is a huge city, full of people, motorcycles and small cars and noisy. The most common and inexpensive taxi is the tuc-tuc, a motorized tricycle, green and yellow very characteristic. It is a very polluted city, it was clear something from the hotel window: a cloud of pollution hangs over the city, like fog, but are not. At the end of the day we felt, with eye irritation and soot in the nose.

starting our trip in India Gate, a monument similar to the arch of triumph, which I think is also the same symbol. Is set in spacious gardens, by way of Elysian fields, ending in the presidential palace in India, home to the President of the Republic of India. India is actually a federal republic (I did not know), with a President and a Prime Minister, and is divided into federations or states.

The next visit was to a Hindu temple. It is a building of distinctive architecture, forming spaces or rooms, and each is an altar of a Hindu god. According to the guide told us, the Hindu religion has three main gods: Brahma (the preserver), Vishnu (the creator) and Shiva (the destroyer). Shiva represented as a naked man with a snake around his neck. These three gods are women, who are also goddesses, and these three gods can also be reincarnated, and each incarnation is a different god, concluded in summary that the Hindu religion has many gods. In the temple had altars with statues, but also had engraved on the walls, representing so many gods. We saw the statues of Vishnu, the creator, of Lakshmi, goddess of money and wealth, of Durga, goddess of war (and bride of Shiva), sitting on a tiger and eight arms, each holding a different weapon; Krishna, who is the handsome god of love and the many girlfriends, and his shrine is in a hall of mirrors (very appropriate), and it is a reincarnation of Vishnu, Shiva, in a particularly large room, which is mounted on a bull, and who must pray every Monday; of Hanuman, the monkey god, which must be the employer of the drivers because all his cars have a prayer card, and Ganesha, the elephant-faced god is shown seated on a rat, which is the god of prosperity and good luck.

All that we saw, and unfortunately it was forbidden to take pictures (other than you have to go barefoot walking on the cold marble), so the only ones I have are from outside the temple. Our next visit we

lead to a Sikh temple. Yes there we could take pictures, and there also we had to be barefoot, and also take off our socks, and covering the hair with a scarf. The Sikh religion was apparently prosecuted and put away until a time. According to our guide, today many of the devotees of this religion are merchants, and they all have to devote a small portion of their profits to the maintenance of the temple and a supportive chair is in the back, where da to eat every day to anyone who wants. Also according to our guide, in the Sikh religion all men and women are equal, unlike the Hindu religion formerly dominated by a caste system that still today remains deeply rooted. The caste structure from the highest of the priests, to the lowest, that of pariah, and within these the sub-caste of untouchables, who had reserved the dirtiest and most unpleasant, and should avoid contact ( to visual) with all others who were not untouchables. Returning to the Sikh, told us that extremes are vegetarians, and you can not cut hair, so the men wear turbans, because underneath their hair wrapped.

The temple is spacious, yet el suelo cubierto de alfombras. En el centro hay un altar con el libro sagrado, y en un lateral tres personas entonan cánticos todo el tiempo. En la parte de detrás está el comedor, en un espacio diáfano cubierto de alfombras, bajo las escaleras, pegado a lo que sería la cocina. Y cuando ya creía que había visto el templo entero, a un lateral se abren unas escaleras que llevan a un estanque inmenso, donde la gente hace sus abluciones diarias.

 

Y así fue la visita a un templo sikh. En la siguiente entrega, una crónica de más lugares que vimos en Delhi, como un paseo por el mercado, y una visita a dos mezquitas: la más grande de India and the oldest. my flickr page I have more pictures than they are here, if you want to take a look.

Technorati tags: india, delhi

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trip to India. Part I: Wedding in Bangalore

This is my American friend, who now works in the U.S. to the World Bank. Shamir She and her boyfriend decided to marry, and wanted to celebrate in the birthplace of Shamir: Bangalore, India.

and invited us to their wedding. And off we went.

Bangalore is located in South India. It is an important technological development (although I really do not think so.) When you arrive you are typical of what you can expect: a big city, full of people, it seems that has no defined center, with wide streets in which nobody pays any attention to the rails or preference, and traffic is a chaos, mainly of small motor vehicles. Following is a very noisy city, as all drivers moving to blow the horn. Still, Bangalore was best kept to the following cities that we visited on the trip.

The wedding was a Hindu ceremony, but an abbreviated version, because apparently the Indian weddings last for days, and this "only" The ceremony lasted about three hours (with a lunch break included). Was held at the Taj West End hotel in Bangalore, a luxury hotel surrounded by gardens, in a large room that had a box of chairs and a square altar, adorned with flowers.

The ceremony went more or less as follows:

First, the couple sat outside the altar in a ritual of welcome and acceptance by the families. America by participating parents, and by his mother and sisters Shamir. This ritual consisted mainly of the priest sang songs all the time, and family threw rice at the bride and groom in the head.

After the couple have raised and have left each one to a room. Then in the back of the room served food, buffet style.

After eating, the couple returned to the room with different clothes, and go to the altar. Then the priest is chanting the whole time and telling them what to do. Shamir's sister was in charge of making the translation into English, so that the bride and her family heard what the priest was saying.

At various times during the ceremony as the priest, as the parents of America, as the mother of Shamir, rice has dropped over the heads of the couple. On one occasion the couple have stood and been tied with a rope, broke out after.

At another point, the couple and the father of America had to hold a bowl and American mother filled it with milk, and then threw flowers inside. Then

has come to believe that was the focal point of the wedding, though, as I say, do not we learned anything. Have put America and Shamir standing, facing each other, separated by a veil spread to the height of the nose. After the priest sing some songs, have lowered the veil, and Shamir has made America a lei. After the turn has come to America to do the same, but at that moment a bastard Shamir Friends have raised shoulders and poor America has had to score the garland on the head of her boyfriend (hopefully got it).

Later, another ritual has been that have brought a brazier and some wood and made a bonfire, where they laid flowers and other things such as rice and bananas. Shamir has caught the smoke with his hands and has sucked up to four times.

Another ritual that seemed important was when the couple have raised and given seven times in a circle on the altar, holding hand. It seems that each of the seven laps was to achieve a specific purpose. Ending

and have brought a container with water and rose petals, and launched into a ring. The couple had to compete to see who was before the ring. Apparently it was the first to dominate in the marriage. I think I found Shamir.

Finally, married women have been up to the altar to bless the couple. This blessing is that they first pass a lighted candle in front of the face, then throw them in the head rice.

The ceremony, the couple, as husband and wife, have come down from the altar and one by one they have stooped to all his family, touching their feet, receiving a blessing patted on the head.

And so much the ceremony, leaving many details and many other things to tell. Then there was a buffet dinner (at 19:30), and then to the apartment. The next day we were soon at the airport in order to retrieve our luggage, which had not yet arrived from Paris (thanks, Air France), and then we left for Delhi to start a circuit that would take us six days of incredible places in Delhi Jaipur and Agra, ending at the Taj Mahal and then back to Delhi to catch a plane that brought us longed back to Europe. The chronicle of this trip in future editions of this blog.

Technorati tags: Hindu wedding, india, bangalore

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Books read in 2007: 50 books failed mission

have been quite

least about one book per month. Then put the list in order of completion:

• Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
• A Brief History of Nearly Everything , by Bill Bryson
Canticle for Leibowitz
• of Walter M. Miller ( rereading )
• The Art of War, Sun Tzu
• Herbert West Reanimator, HP Lovecraft
• Tales of HP Lovecraft ( rereading )
• The shadow out of space , HP Lovecraft
• Cryptonomicon 2: Pontifex code, by Neal Stephenson
• Permutation City, Greg Egan
• Saragossa Manuscript by Jan Potocki
Cryptonomicon
• 3: Aretusa code, by Neal Stephenson
• The world of yesterday, of Stefan Zweig
• legend Holy Drinker by Joseph Roth
• The Dark Tower III: The wastelands of Stephen King

This has been a year of good and interesting readings, all of them. Then I will discuss a few:

Kafka on the Shore, although I can not say that I excited, yes that I love this novel, for his imagination, his approach, his writing, and the situations and landscapes dream he describes. On the other hand I think it is intentionally morbid, with a sexual charge that sometimes seems to start without more, to leave you with the heater. I also found that it is a novel with a definite end and closed (which need not be bad), but in this case gave me the impression that the author wanted to tell a series of scenes and dreams that had occurred , without really knowing then how to glue together. Lastly

mention the wonderful story of man who could hear the cats, for its beautiful prose and imagination. I also loved the end, when Kafka Tamura goes into the forest, beyond the limits the cabin.

A Brief History of Nearly Everything : I bought kikollan recommended (by Kiko). A wonderful and entertaining book, which shows the stories and the lives of people behind the breakthroughs and scientific discoveries of all time, with anecdotes, situations and curiosities. Reanimator

I confess that he had not yet read this classic Lovecraft. Despite the years, continues to fear and restlessness. A worthwhile read. Cryptonomicon

: Another recommendation kikollan (and Angelillo), who has come back to thank Stephenson to be discovered. I had a big read all three installments, with the adventures and misadventures of his characters, with descriptions and lessons of cryptography, with an interesting introduction to how computers work, with pearls geeks that it pushes in the development, with sexual tension crescendo between two of the characters ... In short, everything.

permutation City: The third recommendation kikollan. Science fiction of the times, we might call, but I think that is written in 1992. For me today is today, because it describes a virtual world created from cellular automata, a subject which, with other notes on artificial intelligence part of my research.

Saragossa Manuscript: This book was a revelation. It was parked down positions on the stack of books have been pending for a couple of years, perhaps respectful of their size, but once I decided to start reading, was opened to me a fascinating world of interwoven stories within other stories, stories love, death, seduction, picaresque and nobility. An amazing description of the idiosyncrasies of the eighteenth century Spain. To highlight the scientific small pearls in the mouth of a geometer, and bold statements about religions , humanities and philosophy in general, with a history of the origins of the Christian religion told nothing less than the Wandering Jew himself.

The erotic charge is also present in many of the stories, not just purely love. For example, the protagonist, the theme of every story, who, despite their "resistance" start is "obliged" under the influence of magic to keep trios with two "distant cousins" Muslim.

yesterday's world: this book contains the memoirs of Stefan Zweig, a Viennese writer who did not know, and who had the misfortune to live through two world wars. His autobiography is actually a description of the changes that shook Europe and the world in the twentieth century. How a century Europe that began innocent and quiet, anchored in the traditions and optimism, suddenly came to a war that nobody wanted, then the economic crisis, mistrust and strengthening of national identities, and hence the rise of National Socialism, Hitler, and another war that ended the hopes pan and changed the world beyond repair as it is now. The author tells of movie things like that before World War
made a trip to New York and was working there for months, all without a passport, visa or any documentation. Unimaginable in these times.

This book has made me understand what failed the history books, and how life was then and what were the reasons which led the German people to accept and bring to power Hitler and his party. A worthwhile read for anyone who wants to know the origins of modern Europe, or what were the events that led to two world wars in such a short period of time.

The Dark Tower: On the Dark Tower saga, there is actually little to say. Sometimes thrilling, sometimes slow and cumbersome, but always full of fascinating imagination, drawing a Western world combined with old civilizations, technological wonders and magic. The next three deliveries are reading my next targets.

In short, I have really enjoyed everyone. But if I had to choose one to recommend, I would recommend Cryptonomicon and the Dark Tower, also good are also the most entertaining.

Technorati tags: books, reading