09.18.07 A day in the Country

BEWARE - SNAKES MENTIONED AND SHOWN BELOW - WARNING

While the client office is in Mumbai (Bombay), a fishing village founded on 7 islands like a Roman Stonington, the job site is on the other coast, South of Chennai (Madras). I mean WAY south. Like an hour and a half by car. Talk about the boondocks! It is nice to get out of the city, and there's lots of colorful flora, fauna and other things.

The trucks down in Chennai are great. They are big massive things with screaming yellow cabs and yellow or green hoppers. Then someone goes mad with the paint and covers them with birds and flowers and letters and flags, and best of all are the devil faces painted on the rear axle gear box! I’m looking for a truck stop so I can get some really good shots for my gallery show in Chelsea.

So there’s lots and lots and lots of wildlife in India and even more at the job site. There are incredible birds who have wonderful songs, but I don’t know what they are. Some have to be some of the biggest swallows I’ve ever seen, because they have these incredibly elegant swallow tails (but no bowties) there are some other black ones with iridescent blue tails. (Wanda, help!!)

There are flowers in the trees and in the grass and all over. Things like watrlillies, milkweed, orchids and strange and wonderful things.

For fauna there're goats and chickens and dogs and cats and of course, buffalo and cows. Cows in the field and cows in the street, and cows pulling wagons and cows just sitting.

AND there's a family of monkeys living on the site, near the worker's dorms. The site is so far from everything that there's a whole project building housing for the workers. Anyway, the monkeys were supposedly caught and taken far away, but this family either found their way back, or moved into the vacum.

So there's one older monkey, who was sitting on the little curb walls along the road. I stopped to get his picture, but he stretched and started to walk away down the wall. When he got to the end where there was a small pedestal, he stopped, sat down and posed. I guess he figured that if i was going to take a picture it ought to be a portrait. But do you think I can find the damn picture?

The only snake I’ve seen was dead. I'm grateful. He had come up on one of the surveyors and started making noise. So they not only caught him and killed him, but burned him as well.

Turns out that they had to burn the snake because of the eyes. The snake's eyes retain its memory, and if it’s mate or children come along they can discover who killed their kin and will go after the killer’s family.

I think I remember something about this in Rikki Tikki Tavi.

So the other day I was walking the site and a herd of cattle came up and were grazing on my path back to the office. Of course cows don’t scare me, I’m a Wisconsin boy after all. But apparently I don’t smell right, because they all moved away from me as I approached. So I didn’t walk too fast since I didn't want a stampede, but I sauntered and took some pictures as I went.

As I reached my turn there was a bull watching me warily from 20’ away. I snapped his picture (right), and I guess he doesn’t like the paparazzi annoying his girl friends. He snorted and pawed and started lunging toward me.

So if you’ve ever been in one of these situations, it’s incredible how many thoughts can go through your mind. Things along the lines of: another fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into! and: can I out run him in my flip flops? and: where DID I leave my red cape? Plus a couple dozen others.

So giving up on the flight option as impractical I threw up my hands and yelled ‘HEY!’. Now maybe he thought I was talking about dinner, but I really think that I scared him. Without breaking stride he bunny hopped a 180 degree turn and went trotting off in the other direction. I just stood there like a doofus with my hands in the air not believing that there weren’t hoofprints up my chest.

I guess you just can’t take the country out of the kid. Don’t worry, you can bet that I’m putting on my boots next time I go for a walk at the site.