safe behind bars

allow me to wax poetic (or perhaps pathetic) for a moment with a few words i scribbled down on my last train trip.

i've always been enamored of overnight train journeys. there's something intrinsically romantic about being rocked to sleep by the rails as the train moves ever forward into the deepening night. it's a shame that i never experienced overnight trains in my childhood.. i'm sure i would have been charmed by them, as i was by crumbling english castles and sugar cubes at tea time. (a sidenote.. but the state of railways in america is lamentable to say the least)

as it was, my first overnight train ride was one from france to italy when i was in high school. i loved it right away. the semi-privacy of the trim compartment, every element so efficiently designed. the joy of watching as the lights - or dark - roll by.

but the indian rails have a special place in my heart. even now as i sit in my sleeper class berth, the golden light of dusk peeks in through the bars on the windows. dusty towns flit by, their residents preparing for night. in my car happy families share secrets, offer each other snacks, or play, vaulting from the metal bars or jumping between the bottom seats. dutiful vendors pass, swinging their wares in tune with their sonorous cries.

forgive me if i'm sounding overly saccharine - but it's my penultimate journey here on the indian rails and i'm beginning to get nostalgic. i mean, where else will i get a rs. 5 cup of chai delivered to my seat? or vada pav and lonavala chikki passed to me from just outside the train window?

of course trains aren't all shy toothy (or toothless) grins and wafting breezes from wood stoves. there are always the loud arguments, even louder bodily functions, and questionable smells in closer quarters. and it's pretty much the last place you'd ever want to be sick. but even with all that, my positive experiences have far outnumbered any unpleasantness.

i know i'm hardly the first person to be inspired by the trains.. but i had to try to pay some homage to one of my favorite parts of this amazing country.

even now as i post this i'm about to get on what will be my last train trip in india for some time. but i hope know there are many more voyages to come.

sleeper class zindabad!

let's go fly some kites

so after my three weeks of travel i dropped in for a pitstop in mumbai (just enough time to get some clothes altered at the tailor and others cleaned from the dhobi), enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather, and decided i really do feel at home in the city.

then i left again.

kites of all colors

this time heading to gujarat for my third trip to ahmedabad. it's quickly becoming one of my favorite cities.. all kinds of architecture.. textiles, of course, and this time.. kites! uttarayan is literally just a festival of flying kites. people all over india enjoy flying kites this time of year, grateful for the winter weather (which still requires sunscreen) and windy days. uttarayan is always celebrated on the 14th, and officially commemorates the lengthening days and moving northward of the sun. and perhaps nowhere is it celebrated more than ahmedabad.

bright pink spinning.. like cotton candy

my first day in the city i visited what are becoming my 'usual places' - namely lucky tea stall (a favorite haunt of the late, great m.f. husain) and dropped some rupees at two standby textile shops. (side note: i found a cohort who's even crazier about textiles than i am! she just bought her third sewing machine, to give you an idea..). i spent the rest of my afternoon searching for kites.. easier said than done! while i had seen scads the night before on the way back from the train station their presence was less than universal. i did eventually find some, along with the sights of kite-preparation: stretching the string and adding the powdered dyes and glass bits (for cutting), spinning on the big wheels, and getting the string onto the spools (which i just found spell-bindingly gorgeous, especially with the lovely gujarati text). i saw several kids practicing in preparation for the big day. and a few of them even invited me into their home behind the kite stand. they were all smiles and giggles, of course.

spools and spools

the next day the festivities began. bright and early people got up and took to their roofs to take advantage of the early morning breezes. i made my way to a friend's friend's house on the other side of the city. there i found out that proper attire for uttarayan consists of sunscreen and hats (often cowboy hats, it seems), and tape around the fingers for the die-hard kite-fighters (remember that glass i mentioned?). we tried our luck getting the kites up and cutting some down - we were even successful a few times though, admittedly, accidentally. it was much fun - fighting the neighbors on nearby rooftops and cheering and gloating when victorious. lapet! we shout (which means 'cut'). we managed to learn the proper ways to string the kites (maybe a few errors), bend them (over your head), and keep them in the air (that part may have been more theoretical on our part). we spent the day between rooftops of various friends, intermittently flying, snacking (chikki is quite popular.. sweets with peanuts or sesame seeds, also these little balls of puffed rice), and dancing when the wind died down. as evening came on and the light began to fade people started lighting paper lanterns and letting them float up into the atmosphere - a truly lovely sight.

but since one day wasn't enough - and the next day was sunday after all - there was another day of festivities. we repeated our actions from the day before - different rooftops, same activities. with perhaps less kite-fighting and more dancing. another gorgeous day with beautiful weather and good company. what more could you ask for?

well, maybe just a little breeze.