May 2012
4 posts
Mystery ride
This weekend was about surprises. Matt grew up going on mystery rides with his family and this weekend he returned the favor. He said I could tag along too. Surprises? New England summer attractions before tourist season? Hells yes. It’s good to be a kid again.
We all climbed into the car early Friday morning from Dighton, Mass. Three hours later we arrived in the western White Mountains...
Going back to green
We are back in this incredible world of green, enjoying the month of May in Connecticut. So hello, US of A. The world feels like it exploded here, and it’s almost like I’ve never noticed it before. I don’t think that can be possible, but I also don’t think we could have found a more complete polar opposite to the India we left (for the moment). We are here for about a...
Himachal Pradesh - a mountainous journey commences
Mountains are elusive features of nature - breathtakingly beautiful yet unknowable, massive and brutal. So it’ll come as no surprise that describing a drive on a tiny strip of road meandering and switchbacking through parts of the largest mountain range in the world - the Himalaya Range - is hard to put into words. From every vantage these megaliths change their appearance; with every...
Dharavi
Visiting one of Mumbai’s slums was top on our list of things to do. We’d heard stories of hope and perseverance; of people building life from a few pieces of cardboard, corrugated steel and plastics. In fact, on our boat trip down the Amazon we met a Spaniard who had lived in a Mumbai slum and made a film about the fight over land. Over the course of his experience with the...
April 2012
4 posts
Rhesus Monkey: 1, Anjuli: 0
Today a determined rhesus monkey swiped the pack of crackers Anjuli was holding right out of her hand. I guess “compete with monkeys for food, and lose” can be crossed off the bucket list.
"The Beatles Ashram"
This afternoon we took a trip across the Ganges to visit the remains of Maharishi’s ashram in Rishikesh. The locals call it the “The Beatles Ashram” of course, and most stare blankly at mention of Maharishi. On our walk there, we happened upon a friendly enough sadhu who showed us the entrance and took us on a colorful - and it seemed knowledgeable - tour of the place.
The...
Delhi and Rishikesh in Pictures
We’re still reeling from our three day tour of Delhi and the last few days in Rishikesh. While we take a little time out to plant our feet firmly on the ground, here’s a visual look at our tour…
All packed and ready to leave Mumbai
The most important part of our kit
Travel food!
Takeoff! Mumbai ==> Delhi
A real smoking hazard
A Delhi greeting
Our digs,...
March 2012
17 posts
Amazon on Google Street View →
Huh, if we had only waited a few months we could have just explored the Amazon via Google! [Google street view]
Isn't Traveling Lonely?
A few months back by brother asked me - “Isn’t traveling lonely?” I responded about missing family and friends and finding it hard to make new ones. But weeks later, I was still thinking about it. The traveler goes out into the world to see how others live. Do they always end up lonely and missing home? Yes, yes of course travel can be lonely. Traveling can be hopelessly lonely,...
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Perception is a crafty thing
In the first week here, while walking around in the streets, we felt our eyes tearing and burning, our nostrils itching, and our skin cooking in the sun. The smell of garbage would blow by our faces, all hot and sticky sweet. We observed on every corner rotting piles of food, fetid water, garbage, or swarms of flies like a thick blanket covering some discarded meal. Matt somehow stumbled into some...
Unconference
We went to an “unconference” with our yoga teacher, Devang, a few weeks back about two hours outside of Mumbai (read: only about 100km). I wanted to tell you all about it, but, well, I had way too much homework at the time (I think I was memorizing the alphabet or some such) and then, well, I felt like I was in school again!
After a night out meeting expats, we woke up in the wee...
“When traveling in Mumbai, you need to allot extra time for confusion.”
– Matt, when considering what time to leave to visit our yoga teacher, Devang.
Holi
We celebrated a teeny weeny bit of Holi (होली) today, along with the kids in the building. From what we can gather, many of the Hindu holidays have come to mean different things for different regions, different towns, different people. With so many gods and such a rich history, customs are appropriated over time and evolve. But while traditions may change, this also seems to mean people continue...
“Dear Matthew,
hank [sic] you for contacting iTunes Store Support. My name is...”
– We have a feeling this guy is living down the street from us here. His name was “Matt” in the previous email, but once he realized that he was in competition with the customer, he changed his name to something else we could pronounce, “Math.”
Our goals this week: understand the difference between hai (nasalized) and hai (not nasalized), ta (dental unaspirated), ta (retroflex unaspirated), tha and tha, da and da, dha and dha, and so on. It’s amazing how almost completely unrecognizable differences to a western-trained ear can be critical phonemic distinctions to someone else’s.
“Please allow for manual frisking.”
– Nirmal Lifestyles cinema notice before watching The Iron Lady.
February 2012
22 posts
“Bucks? What is bucks? You mentioned this on the first day we met. I went home,...”
– Our teacher Sanjay, regarding our request to find a Hindi book.
Finding the past and the future in the present
While my folks were here, we went to visit family friends of my dad’s, Lata and Parag, in Dadar. On their porch overlooking the quiet area of Dadar, with cars on the expressway whizzing by to our right, we considered the hubbub of the day. If order comes out of chaos, what will India’s new order look like? Lata mentioned that the highway had actually made her neighborhood more...
“I like you secretly.”
– (Not in public.)
Oh, the different sounds we make
In the first few weeks of being in Mumbai, we walked around saying Dhanyavad and Shukriya all the time. We’d get responses anywhere from a flurry of giggles to blank stares. Gracious people (or those used to Brits and other westerners) would respond with “Yaur Velcam.” We also used, in greeting, the only other Hindi word we knew: Namaste. To which people would generally respond...
Food, folks and fun
Here’s a look at some of the highlights of week two in Mumbai. I’m lovin’ it.
A Rajasthani Sturbridge Village filled with camel cart rides (to rock your spine), Rajasthani hand-spun pottery (pssst, don’t mind the motor), tightrope walking, doll and bangle shops, Rajasthani dance and a fire breather, puppet theater, Indian-style carnival attractions (apparently the world...
Sweets for all
We traveled to the local sweet shops Nagrik and Krishna Sweets today to get my brother an edible souvenir. That also meant buying a whole basket of other sweets and snacks that we’ll need to eat before they spoil in the heat. What?! The samples we tried were just so good.
Matt has been diligently sampling all manner of sugar and milk since our arrival. There are so many sweet shops in...
One green square
We love this little oasis of a park that’s an 8 minute walk from Mohana’s. Yes, you have to brave rickshaw traffic, maneuver around exposed piping, cross three rather heart-stopping intersections and one big gross, trash-heaped mud puddle, pass through another park of sorts, and then head down a lane with stray dogs, but it is 100% worth the effort.
It’s a wonderful enclave...
A new neighborhood, an old feel
The effect in the photos below reminds me strongly of photos my mom took on her first trip to India in 1979, six months after my parents were married. Most of them depict my cousins and Mohana, food, painted trucks, street scenes, water buffalos, and travels she and my dad took by train from Delhi to Agra to visit the Taj Majal. You know, things that would fancy a 32 year-old, blond Philadelphian...
Brahmasthan
So y’all know I meditate, right? Twice a day. It’s a practice called Transcendental Meditation (TM) that my dad and mom have been practicing since ‘71 and ‘72 respectively. It’s a simple, mantra-based technique, but it differs from quite a few out there in that it’s not concentration-based. That means, you don’t sit around and stare at the wall, trying...
En route to Nagpur
While cabs come in all shapes in sizes in India, privately rented vehicles seem to come in two varieties: those where the driver uses A/C and those where he does not. Our trip last Friday from Nagpur to visit the Brahmasthan (meaning center, near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh) was of the latter type. We like the freedom of open windows. In the Indian countryside, though, there are a few setbacks to...
A bout of lag
When we arrive at our destination and meet with people, the question is always asked “What do you want to do?” Immediately, my type A kicks in and I ramble off all the categories of things we want to accomplish, beginning with language, culture, humanitarian efforts, etc. But after a moment I feel sheepish, as though I am justifying my endeavor with a busy-bee list of things. How do...
January 2012
7 posts
Sweaters, rockets and old firefighters
We attended our first ugly sweater party on Sunday in honor of Papa, Matt’s grandfather, who died last year from cancer at the wise old age of 93. He was a wonderful, sweet man who valued family above all else. This photo with him and Grammy was taken in 1942. They were in their early 20s.
After a colorful hour in the local Salvation Army combing through many wooly options, we found some...
So long, t-shirt
So long, for now, t-shirt. Wow, I will miss you. I have worn you through many, many an occasion, whether appropriate or not. And you always made me look good. You’ve aged well, you lucky t-shirt.
Whenever I put you on, you would hug my shoulders just so, but allow for room to breathe. You were never the cause of any embarrassment, any uncomfortable wardrobe malfunctions. You rarely...
For a visit
Seeing friends is the best part of coming home. Much love to Brian, Alicair, Fiona and baby Wendy. We’ll see you soon.