Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Lucky Pig?

Pune Airport lounge.
Refuel stop. Bucharestu, Romania.


























































I recently remembered a person from a workshop on campus at Georgia Tech.  He was very good at fabricating metal components useful in our projects.  Big guy.  He used to have a pencil-thick scar across the width of his neck. He told me he got it in a knife fight in a bar.  I always half believed him.  He had a hobby. He used to collect statues and things shaped like hogs and pigs.  It was quite a fantastic collection.  Piggy banks. Mugs shaped like a hog.  Metal statues. Wild Georgia hogs.  Bristly, large with huge canines.   
The reason I remembered him was I recently bought a little “Lucky three legged Pig”.  Made from terracotta ( “Mud”).  Cute as hell.  From Chile. "Chanchito".
As large and old as India is, I have never come across anything that depicts pigs as lucky or cute and lovable.  One avatar of Vishnu is the “Varaha”. A wild boar.  Ferocious and terrible.   In general pigs are viewed as unclean animals, much like the middle east views them.  Both Judaism and Islam prohibit followers from eating pork.   I wonder what the Chinese think of them.  They are an important part of their cuisine.  Food for thought aye? 

Homer Simpson on pigs:
Lisa: “I’m going to become a vegetarian”
Homer: “Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?”
L:“Yes”
H: “Bacon?”
L: “Yes Dad”
H: “ Ham?”
L: “Dad all those meats come from the same animal”
H: “Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”