We were over half way into the Srirangaptnam cycle tour and after a brief visit to the bathing ghats stopped for a chai. This and the adjoining shops sold soaps, shampoos, jugs, Plastic loofah things for rubbing off old skin, towels, everything for pooja and even clothes.

Today the t shirts drew my attention.

In India many T shirts have slogans that are , possibly innocent and other down right weird. I expect that many who wear them have no idea what they mean. They can be hilarious.

Well at one of the stalls today was a T shirt with the word MOONSTONE emblazoned across the top. Know what that is? A semi precious gem stone found in many places, including India and Sri Lanka. The picture however was an image of the moon and a US Astronaut, a complete disconnect. Of course the designer had made an incongruous connection between the moon and the stone.

There is however another connection. What’s reputed to have been the first detective novel in the English language in the late 19th Century was also called Moonstone. Confusingly it’s referring to a fictitious diamond and not the gem.

The weirdest bit is the story is about An English army officer who steals the diamond and the consequences for him and his family. He gets the stone in the fourth war of Mysore, yes you’ve guessed it in Srirangaptnam.

Spooky eh?