Royalty

Saturday was Jim's birthday. The day started restfully- no checking work email and relaxation in the morning. However, we had to leave just after noon to go pick up a present that Janet had arranged. We drove to a place not too far from where we live- an apartment complex. We went to the apartment of a woman who is a cousin of the Maharaja of Mysore. Before the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the country was ruled by the British, but there were many "states" ruled by the Maharajas, with the oversight of the British, of course. Mysore was one of the largest such states and apparently a wealthy one as well (Bangalore was part of the Mysore state and has a small palace built in the late 1800's by the Maharaja of Mysore). After independence, the maharajas had no real power, but they still had a fair amount of money and influence. Today, some still have money and influence, but probably much less than 50 years ago. We do not know the history, but apparently Indira Gandhi had a lot to do with the removal of much of their money and influence in the 1970's.
In any case, this woman is a cousin of the current Maharaja of Mysore. She is very well educated and very pleasant to talk to. We came to her place because Janet had been there a few days earlier with a group of friends to look at some art works done by a cousin of the woman, who we presume, is related to a Maharaja from the north around Gujurat- where he lives. Janet bought a couple small ink drawings a few days ago, but she also made deposit on a painting and Jim got to choose which he wanted as a Birthday gift! The choice was very difficult, but he finally chose a water color that features green parrots (parakeets) on a mostly yellow background. The combination of parrots and yellow was too much to resist. It turned out that Janet had already planned to buy the second painting that was of great interest- a sort of montage of all sorts of sites one might see in India- including some parrots!
We later went to see "Julie and Julia" at a movie theater in a mall nearby- it was not crowded at all- probably because of the time and the fact that many people probably don't know who Julia Child was. It was a good film and we enjoyed ourselves.
After the movie we went to a new hotel which opened near our apartment about 2 months ago- a very nice place. We had received a notice of an exhibition of "silk painting". Though we were not quite sure what it was, we thought it was close to home and we could have dinner after seeing the exhibition. The works were actually embroidered images of animals, plants, people and gods made from silk. Some were very nice and not too expensive, but those we liked more were too expensive. It was interesting to see. It was a small exhibit of 13 works. It was also attended by the current Maharaj of Mysore! He was dressed in a very nice black suit- none of the old ceremonial outfits. We don't know the connection to these works of art, but we have been told that he has a big interest in textiles and art more generally, so he may have been using his influence to attract more people to the show. We saw that 5 or 6 of the works were sold before we left for dinner. So, like some royalty in other countries, these people are somewhat of an attraction themselves- and their family properties are tourist attractions too. It was a very nice Birthday!