This photo almost cost me a lot of money. Look closely and notice a vague suspicion creeping across my face. See it was ME who started the conversation. Up on a rock in Mt. Abu, me and Dave were standing there talking to two of the shrimpiest, meekest little teenagers in the whole town. One of them looked so nervous he could barely sputter out a sentence. Anyway, they wanted to take our picture.
This is so embarassing. After they snapped it, sputterspeak is staring at my camera and he turns to his friend and says something and his friend shakes his head "no." But he looks down at the camera again and already I'm starting to jump up from my crouched position (see above). You can see where this is going. Sputtermouth is actually a fast little guy and much better at navigating the paths than I am. I'm after him and my flip flops are flying off. I'm screaming bloody murder and all kinds of curses. Like a Looney Tunes chase. With my fist raised in the air like Foghorn Leghorn.
Well they were gone. They lost me through vines and jungle tangles. On my way to find my flip-flops, I told everyone about my camera. Again I'm a cartoon, but this time it's me who's stuttering and breathsputtering, pointing incomprehensible in all directions. And I'm describing the whole scene to two helpful guys. Like, he was wearing, well, he was about this tall, well-dressed, skinny, maybe 17 years old, wearing like, a, a flannel shirt you know and. And then cartoon cliche of all cartoon cliches! As I'm describing shrimy sputterdodger I see his red flannel out of the corner of my eye. Imagine I'm still describing him. And he looked like, well, he looked, um, he looked like THAT GUY!
I could see his face through the bushes and he looked very scared. I think I looked very angry. He ducked his head down, covered his face, left the camera on the ground, and disappeared down the hill.
An apocalyptic Hindu offshoot described by an actual Hindu as "The Brainwashing Museum." My favorite kind!
Mt. Abu is an earthly paradise. I recommend a nature guide named Champak.
More Mt. Abu.
Arrows point the way to a cow.
More from the museum. I think this one is "Jealously."
"Man is not just a bundle of bones and flesh. Man was never a beast nor will he ever be a beast."
The clock is ticking.
This photo almost cost me a lot of money. Look closely and notice a vague suspicion creeping across my face. See it was ME who started the conversation. Up on a rock in Mt. Abu, me and Dave were standing there talking to two of the shrimpiest, meekest little teenagers in the whole town. One of them looked so nervous he could barely sputter out a sentence. Anyway, they wanted to take our picture.
Yeah, so I bought one of these. Just one more piece of evidence to archive in your "Dan, are you sure you're ok" file. It's an invention used in Hindu temples. Every temple must perform puja, or prayer, at various times during the day. But let's say you're running a small temple, nothing fancy, and you can't afford musicians on your payroll. Or nobody in your village has any rhythm. Or your musicians are always arriving late, complaining, and generally being flaky (Holler if you've ever tried to work with a drummer). Let me introduce what we call the autopuja, the pujamatic 9000, the dum dum drum machine, pujatron, etc. 
Jain temples in Jaisalmer
This is a swastika made of rice with ants eating the middle. Jain temples are full of insects, snakes, and other things because Jains believe in the preservation of all life. For those of you back home, the swastika is a sacred symbol that means "good luck and well-being." I just thought I'd clear that up. 
This is a green lake.
This is a cow with an eye on its leg.
This is a sign that I like.
This is a sign that tells children "This way for learning." Or so I would guess.
