Your online mohalla

Life & Leisure

Auroville: http://www.auroville.org

Templenet: http://www.templenet.com/

Indian Autorickshaws: http://www.indianarc.com/iarc_blog.php

At http://dupb.blogspot.com/, the demolition of many of Bombay’s slums during 2004-05 is documented; in P Sainath’s words: “How agonised we are about how people die.

How untroubled we are by how they live.” Robert Neuwirth, a writer who spent two years living in squatter communities in four continents, documents the vibrant energy of these “misunderstood” settlements at http://www.pkblogs.com/squattercity.

Documenting Nangla Maachi: http://nangla.freeflux.net/
At places like Open Space India (http://openspaceindia.org) and Sarai (www.sarai.net), a new urban dialogue has started.

Blank Noise Project: http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/

An old India hand takes a nostalgic look at “Bathrooms I have known” (http://www.namasteindiatours.com/electricshower.htm), from the one in Bundi where you can shower as you sit on the toilet to the ubiquity of the resident loo lizard.

For the uninitiated, Jesse A Todhunter offers a hilariously illustrated step-by-step guide (http://www.pbase.com/jtodhunter/indian_toilet) to using the Indian squat toilet. Only Sulabh Shauchalya would think, however, of creating an online Toilet Museum, which covers the evolution of the Indian toilet and offers useful tips.

“Before going for defecation one was to chant the following mantra from Narad Puran: “Gachhantu Rishio Deva/ Pishacha ye cha grihya ka/ Pitrbhutagana surve/Karishye Malamochanam”. Unmissable.

Sulabh Toilet Museum: http://www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org/