A Note on Translation xi
Acknowledgments xiii
O Wonderful! xix
Introduction. Wonder, Creativity, and Ethical Life in Bangalore 1
Cranes in the Sky 1
Wondering about Wonder 6
Modern Fractures 9
Of Bangalore's Boomtown Bourgeoisie 13
My Guides into Wonder 16
Going Forward 31
1. Adventures in Modern Dwelling 34
A Cow in an Elevator 34
Grounded Wonder 37
And Ungrounded Wonder 39
Back to Earth 41
Memorialized Cartography 43
"Dead-Endu" Ganesha 45
Earthen Prayers and Black Money 48
Moving Marble 51
Building Wonder 56
Interlude: Into the Abyss 58
2. Passionate Journeys: From Aesthetics to Ethics 60
The Wandering Gods 60
Waiting . . . 65
Moral Mobility 69
Gliding Swans and Bucking Horses 70
The Pain of Cleaving 74
And the Angry God 80
Full Tension! 84
Adjustments 86
Life and . . . 91
Ethical Wonders 92
Interlude. Up in the Skyye 95
3. In God We Trust: Economies of Wonder and Philosophies of Debt 99
A Treasure Trove 99
Twinkling Excess 107
The Golden Calf 111
A Promise of Plenitude 114
"Mintingu" and "Minchingu" 119
"Cash-a-carda?" Philosophies of Debt 128
Soiled Money and the Makings of Distrust 131
The Limits of Wonder 133
4. Technologies of Wonder 138
Animatronic Devi 138
Deus Ex Machina 140
The New in Bangalore 142
The Mythical Garuda-Helicopter 143
Drums of Contention 152
Capturing Divine Biometrics 157
Archiving the Divine 159
Technologies of Capture 162
FaceTiming God 164
Wonder of Wonders 169
5. Timeless Imperatives, Obsolescence, and Salvage 172
"Times have Changed" 172
The Untimeliness of Modernity 175
Avelle and Ritu 178
Slipping Away 181
When Wonder Falls 183
Time Lords 187
Dripping Time 188
The Future, The Past, and the Immortal Present 204
Conclusion. A Place for Radical Hope 206
Radical Hope 206
Amazement in Turmeric 210
The Need for Wonder 213
Afterword. The Tenacity of Hope 216
Notes 219
References 247
Index 265