Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Buland Bhaarat ki Buland Tasveer ... in Boston!!

I was on the east coast this weekend on a short trip. Beautiful fall colors, beautiful red-eyes (mine after the night long flight) and of course beautiful Boston (or Baastan, as the locals pronounce it. It was great to finally see a city in America with some history. You know, they actually have references to the 1700s. Boston is a nice city, with the quaint mixing with the modern. It is especially reflected in the architecture of the buildings. The subway is easy to get around in, and I even spent a little while in Harvard (sorry MIT, shall visit thy campus next time I am there) . There is so much weight associated with the name Harvard. You almost expect geniuses pouring out of each street (four years in the US have wisened me, but I would have believed that 10 years ago). Hell, even my office-mate is from Harvard (or Haavard, keeping in sync with the right pronounciation)I have never posted any photos to my blog, and trust me, my first one is going to be a blockbuster (its a deep pun, good for you if you get it). Ladies and gentlemen, here is the most unexpected piece of beauty in the most unexpected place. Buland Bhaarat ki Buland Tasveer --- Hamara Bajaj!! Its the Bajaj Chetak in Boston downtown.


Chunnu-Munnu ke paapa ki sawaari Posted by Hello

While on the topic of unexpected Indian things in unIndian places, here's one more that I saw in Boston downtown.


Bustling Bhindi Bazaar in Boston (how's that for alliteration?) Posted by Hello

While on Bhindi Bazaar, for those who aren't aware, there is actually a gharaana in Hindustani classical by the same name. The most famous product of that gharaana is known widely and has also found a mention in my blog (easy for those who have actually been reading it :-))

11 comments:

Avinash said...

Nice photos man. How did u put them there? I mean, I always end up uploading the photos to my TAMU website and then linking to them from there. I want to stop doing that bcos the TAMU server has a space limit of 40MB and it's always better to have a actual photo than a link to it. As for the trivia tidbit, I had no idea there is a Bhindi Bazaar Gharanaa :-). So whos the famous exponent - Lata?

Parth said...

Go to www.hello.com. They have a photo uploader which also integrates with bloggerbot. Simple words, it will directly publish photos to your blog. Ya, it is Lata :-)

Parth said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
RTD2 said...

Awesome pics Parth! I noticed in the ofoto link u conveniently left out East Coast time picture :)
I was with u and still I felt as if this was so much more exciting when I read your blog than when it happened..maybe at that moment we were too preoccupied with missing most of the tour to realize the profound blockbuster-ness of the shot!
Baaston Rox (not short for Red sOX)!

M said...

Couldn't help but grin! :)

phucker said...

http://www.bajajusa.comNuff Said....tis strange, tis wondrous strange!

SM said...

Your blog was as refreshing as my morning coffee !!! Simply luved the cute red little scooter :-). Maybe I will take that long due trip to Baastan after all .

RTD2 said...

Oh the bajajusa.com website was priceless! Scooter Swami and Scooter Haiku deserve ishpecial mention..Amazing find Tarun :)

Mirubh said...

We have our a local dealer of these scooters right here in seattle, if you are interested.

http://www.scootersofseattle.com/

I was pleasantly surpised one day when I was on lake city drive, and sitting on a traffic light, I glance to my left only to find a row of bajaj's, lamrata's (did I spell it right?) and lml vespa's eating dust. I am not even sure if anyone remembers there old lamrata's i.e. behemoth's. Lamrata's, were dubious for having to kick-start a thousand times before it would actually start.
Anyways, if you go there, it seems that this dude has gotten almost 50-60 scooters back in the 1960's-1970's to sell to the unknowing public of seattle, and they are sitting on his lot since then :).

Parth said...

I had no clue that spotting one Bajaj scooter in Boston will lead to so many revelations. Excellent feedback from all of you, thank you.

Anonymous said...

The next time you're in Boston, check out Punjabi Dhaba. The best chholey-bhaturey this side of the Atlantic. And Pacific. well, outside South Asia ... :)