out of india

well we've finally come to the end. i don't know how i can possibly sum up nine months in any concise way, except by using platitudes like 'amazing experience' which are gag-inducing but nevertheless true.

people always ask me what my favorite place has been in these past few months. a fair question, and one that i would most likely ask myself if the roles were reversed, given that i have managed to visit 13 states over the course of the last few months. the problem is i just find it an impossible question to answer. india in particular is an incredibly diverse country, in almost every sense of the word you could imagine. so naturally every place i've visited is spectacularly different - in food, language, customs, dress, you name it. so how can i possibly choose a favorite place?? or trip, for that matter. was it visiting the craft villages of kutch? riding buses and trains through the jungles of kerala? getting spoiled by families in indore? taking a road trip through the desert in rajasthan? playing holi in delhi? sampling french pastries in pondicherry? tramping around the ruins of hampi? splashing in the invitingly warm waters of the arabian sea in goa? browsing through piles of books in bangalore? dancing garba in ahmedabad? gorging myself on the world's heaviest food in amritsar?

i'll stop myself there; i'm sure you get the idea.
suffice it to say that i can't possibly choose a favorite place in india, but every trip, town and village has special memories for me. (except for chennai. chennai is the worst.) bombay, of course, is particularly near to my heart. even for all its infuriating moments (two words: local trains) there are so many amazing aspects too (two words: marine drive).

so did i accomplish everything i set out to? perhaps not. but i think i did accomplish quite a bit. there's always more of india to see but i'd say i got around quite a bit. i've managed to get a pretty good grasp on hindi (comprehension-wise.. i still sound like a confused caveman when i try to speak) which i'm quite proud of. some of my prouder moments were being able to follow entire hindi movies (not counting houseful 2, since it has no plot) and managing to yell at people in somewhat coherent language (don't worry, they deserved it). and, most significantly, i've made some truly fantastic friends while here. (and so the letter-writing list grows) to the point that, while i was sitting in the mumbai airport at two in the morning, instead of feeling sad i just felt so grateful that i had such great friends who would even come to the airport just to see me off at the door or call me in the middle of the night for a last farewell.

so as i sit here in heathrow airport surrounded by gray clouds behind soaring glass windows and too-clean rows of seats and floor tiles trying to drown out the chattering brittish tweens behind me with my indian playlist i'm certainly feeling a little wistful. but more than that i feel so fortunate to have been able to make such wonderful memories in this country i love. 

and don't you worry, india. i'll be back for those other 15 states!

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!

my mumbai

well i've spent several months now chronicling my travels around the subcontinent. i'd say it's time i gave a little attention to my own little corner of this country. in my months here, in between travels, i've had some time to explore little bits of this massive city and have even been lucky enough to have some visitors to show around. and so, here i have some favorite places i shared with them and will now share with you, dear reader (since i assume there is only one of you).

if you ask any mumbaiker what they love or miss about the city, chance are the first thing (or twenty) will be food. (i distinctly remember hour-long conversations about food my friends had before my arrival that i understood almost none of.) true, the same goes for pretty much any indian, but i think many would agree that mumbai has some of the best street food around, and there's no shortage of variety here. i figured it was a good place to start.

mmm.. spicy non-veg...

i got a crash course in street food early on at muhammed ali road, which i chronicled here, and then again here. it's basically a place where, particularly during ramadan, you can find all manner of sweets (both subtly sweet and syrupy, deep-fried) and non-veg deliciousness. the atmosphere is electric, with families out to celebrate and young people buzzing around gorging on the amazing food. i'll be sad when ramadan rolls around in july and i can't find my way back here.

pav bhaji: just add butter!

then there are the street foods you can get any time of year. the most famous of these, of course, is vada pav. the portuguese influence in bombay is most evident in foods like this, that include bread (that would be the pav/pau). vada pav is a delicious little fried ball of potatoes, spices and green chilis served on a bun with green chutney and a dry red chutney powder. they can be found on just about every street corner, especially in the south. just look for a crowd of men standing around eating. then wash it down with a rs. 5 glass of sugar can juice (which will probably be found no more than ten feet away). also in the pav family, we have the famous pav bhaji. i like to think of this as an indian sloppy joe, although it's totally vegetarian. don't worry, though, the vast variety of vegetables are tempered by the paula deen-levels of butter in this dish. i watched it being made in this giant tawa and it was almost grotesque. we're talking bricks of butter here, people. but of course that's also what makes the dish so delicious. you can find it at almost any little cafe or beachside stand. at juhu beach you can sit on the steps and beckon someone over for the extra bread (don't worry, it's got butter on it too) that you will inevitably need.

beach corn

while you're at juhu beach (a veritable street food heaven) you should try some roasted corn. walking along the crowded sands, in between the photo hawkers and the local picnickers, you'll invariably find someone at a cart roasting ears of corn over the hot coals. he may even let you fan the fire yourself. but whatever you do, be sure to get lemon and masala on it. otherwise it's just a plain old ear of corn. the tangy spiciness makes you lick your lips after every bite - you'll never want to eat corn any other way.

name your poison

but my favorite snack at juhu beach has to be the gola, another of mumbai's claims to foody fame. while to the untrained eye it's basically a snowcone, in reality it's so much more. for one thing, the ice is crushed before your eyes on a great old metal hand-powered grinder that you just know weighs 40 pounds. the ice is served on a stick and the syrup (stored in old whisky bottles) is poured into the cup it's served in. so that, when the flavor from your snack inevitably drips down to the bottom, you just dip it back in the cup. ingenious, right? and the syrups - as you can probably see from the image - come in a wide variety, including typically indian fruits and flavors like mango, khus, and rose. and you have the option to drizzle the whole thing with malai, fatty fatty coconut goo, that just makes the whole thing extra creamy/sticky/delicious. now your only problem is trying to not drip onto your feet. (yeah, right)

lights, smoke, action

then there are the late-night foods. quick snacks, like kebabs and chicken tikka rolls that are great for post-beer wandering down south. bademiya is probably the most famous such establishment. you'll see it from afar with its billowing smoke and crowds of people milling around. there are plastic tables too, but the food's so fast you hardly even need to sit down. in the few minutes you spend waiting for your seekh kebab or chicken roll you can watch the guy making the rumali (super thin) roti by spinning and spreading the paper-thin dough over the stone dome - it's mesmerizing. like watching master crêpier on the streets of normandy. also across the street is a great dive bar, gokal, that has some of the best kheema (minced meat and spices) i've ever had.

also a staple: paper menu under plastic table cover

also in the south (mostly) you'll find a fair amount of parsi food. the city has a substantial parsi population although it, along with the number of persian cafes, is dwindling. the ones that remain are some of the oldest and most interesting though. the décor looks as though it hasn't changed in fifty years (it probably hasn't) - dust-covered frames hang filled with deceased relatives, musty plastic chandeliers hover over checked tablecloths covered in plastic. yellowing wallpaper peels off walls covered in old posters or placards ('upstairs for family only'). in short, charming. you can go to britannia for the famous berry pulao, teapot cafe for its  chicken dhansak or ideal corner for one of their changing weekly specials. but my favorite thing to do is go to kyani and enjoy the standard irani chai and bun maska. the joy is in the simplicity - irani chai is essentially regular chai with a little something special (it's also called special tea) and a bun with butter. generally this means a lot of butter (you're shocked, i know) but i shamelessly scrape the excess off with my finger before devouring it.

a stone's throw from kyani is metro theater, one of the oldest in the city. virtually every book i've read that takes place in bombay has made reference to at least one of these classic theatres - metro, eros, regal. though metro has been redone inside into a 6-screen multiplex, at some of the others balcony tickets can still be had for rs. 150 or less. there are also some in the grant road area (just past the red-light district, apparently) that constantly run cheesy movies from the '90s (think DDLJ) for a pittance. like the parsi cafes, these theatres are some of my favorite relics of a bygone past that nevertheless remain a vibrant part of the cityscape.

yes this is bombay

actually the south is full of such buildings. even if the façades are dirty and neglected, you can't hide the beauty of some of these structures. they're even more beautiful in the mossy, high saturation of monsoon season, when i first began wandering among them. in the fort area you'll find quasi-sassanian parsi buildings along MG road, neo-gothic revival style over by the oval maidan (the big open grassy space that always reminds me of the mall in DC - just substitute softball games for cricket and football), and of plenty of art deco (second largest number of art deco buildings in the world!). even a few baroque buildings (blue synagogue). i love meandering around the fort area - you turn a corner or wander down an alley and all of a sudden you look up and find yourself in a street that could be somewhere in europe. well, until you almost run into a cow in the road.

the dark horse

just south of fort is the kala ghoda area. so close, in fact, that i'm not entirely sure where one ends and the other begins. it's named for the black horse statue that no longer stands there. even the cool mural (pictured) has been painted over since i took the photo, sad. the area's great for all the galleries and cafes peppered throughout it. artisan's gallery, which caters to craftspeople throughout the country, the institute for contemporary indian art, the jehangir gallery, with its famous art café and many spaces with constantly changing exhibitions - all are great to wander in and out of. you can see some pretty great artists in these and other galleries. also nearby is the national gallery of modern art, which has a surprisingly nice little collection, and which shamefully few people are even aware of.

shor in the chor

another of my favorite little pockets of the city is chor bazaar. a funny name (as 'chor' means thief), it actually derives from the word 'shor' (referring to the noise-level - much more appropriate). but somehow chor stuck, and chor it remains. i'm generally a fan of all things old and cheap so flea markets are sort of my thing. and any flea market that includes things like ancient cameras, rusted old tea tins, and vintage bollywood posters has my seal of approval. this goes without saying, but also a great place to hone your haggling skills. you know, if you [scoff] need that sort of practice.

standing

well as long as we're talking about old things, i feel i have to mention the national park. a bit of a hike, up at borivali (though really only a train ride away) the national park contains the kanheri caves, some of which date back as far as 1st century BCE. while, true, it's no ellora, you will still see some pretty old buddhas without having to leave the city limits, or spend the better part of your day on a boat to the elephanta caves (which i am told are overrated). the caves are carved right out of the hills and the shallow steps criss-cross all over the gently sloping rocks. i never did figure out the number system, but suffice it to say that there are over 100 caves. even if you don't make it to them all (and really, i doubt you would) you'll see your fair share of pretty impressive statues and deep relief carvings (and some that are less deep: 'vijay 2004'..). definitely worth the trip. but maybe don't wait till midday in one of the hotter months to go there, like we did..

sun down, lights on

rounding out the list of typical must-do highlights on the mumbai list is the haji ali dargah. it's on every major tourist list, and for good reason. it's sort of like the mont saint-michel of the city, a mosque you can only reach at low tide. when i visited it happened to be the perfect time of day. the sun was low in the sky and the breezes coming in off the sea were blowing our dupattas around our shoulders. we made the walk on the raised stone path, leaving the tall city buildings and stones near the shore behind us. we walked all over the mosque itself, buzzing with activity before the evening prayers. then just as we were getting ready to make the trek back the lights came on and the call to prayer began. the mosque looked so beautiful in dusk, with the strings of lights coming on, so of course we stuck around for a bit. when we did make it back to land we rewarded ourselves with an obligatory stop at the famous haji ali juice center. overpriced, maybe, but where else could we find custard apples out of season?

marine drive-by

much of the appeal of haji ali (apart from the juice) is the water itself, of course. no matter what time of day or season - even in pouring rains - people can always be seen along marine drive just sitting facing the sea. young couples arm in arm, kids kicking around a football, or men just staring out at the water. the calm constancy of the sea seems to be a good antidote for the craziness of the city. even as cars whiz by just a few meters away, people seem to take solace in water and soak in the tranquility of the sea. i think there's just something undeniably peaceful about looking out and seeing nothing but rippling water.

paperback heaven

the last - though certainly not least - of my favorite things to do here is shop. india's a great place to shop in general so in mumbai i've found time to uncover some little pockets of great finds. the first of these is flora fountain, my first go-to book stop. sure, there are little stalls and streetside blankets set up with books around the city. but those are very hit-or-miss and often filled with pirated books (boo!). i prefer flora fountain, which has piles and piles of secondhand books attended by friendly and incredibly knowledgeable bookwallas. i just hand them my list and they can tell me immediately if they have any of the titles and, even more impressively, where in the massive stacks they are. most days when i stop by i come home with at least one or two new finds.

then of course there are clothes. down on colaba causeway you can get all manners of shirts and scarves (you can find some nice silk ones if you dig a little) but of course you have to put up with the constant hassling from vendors who at first assume you are a silly tourist. a little farther north on MG road you can find all sorts of men's shirts, belts, underwear - which vendors will try their best to pawn off on you despite being both a woman and clearly uninterested. to round out my shopping i go to hill road, just a short walk/ride from my place in bandra. all kinds of dresses, shoes, accessories, but again, you have to be willing to dig. i have a few favorite go-to spots along the road.. but i can't divulge all my secrets, can i?

bangles, books, and beaches

the next trip, and one of the last, actually, was a quick trip south before ending up in goa for the roommate's birthday (something that's been in the works since, literally, the moment we got back from goa the first time).

a beautiful site.. and char minar behind

first stop hyderabad to visit a good friend. while i had a lovely time catching up, seeing movies (kahaani! fantastic) and even doing some work, i neglected to do much that was terribly touristy or exciting. i blame this partially on my friend's laziness, but i deserve some of the blame too. i did eat plenty of biryani (although we didn't make it to the famous 'paradise') and i did manage to make it to char minar one day where i spent an inordinate amount of time strolling through bangle shops. and buying a few (dozen) too. i regret not seeing more of hyderabad, i've heard such good things about the palaces and museum. ah well, there's always next time!

bangalore's ngma, worth a visit

bangalore was.. well more of the same, really. not that there's all that much to see in bangalore. i had big plans to check out pottery village and wander through the lalbagh gardens, but well, it just didn't happen. i will say, though, that bangalore was lovely. the weather was perpetually beautiful (as promised) and the shopping was fantastic. between the two recommended bookstores (blossom and bookworm) i spent several hours roaming through stacks and came out with more books than i should have. also, at bookworm they gave me coffee which i thought was a nice touch. the shopping on 100 foot road (where my friend lives) was pretty great too - sales and all kinds of gorgeous anokhi-style clothes and housewares at (a little) under anokhi prices. i also visited the NGMA which has a shady, pleasant campus (although no one knows where it is! bah. but that's a rant for another day) and several promising children's programs, which is exciting to me. they, along with the AF and geothe institut also have pretty regular film screenings and events and there's a decent music scene (more than just metal). these things combined make bangalore a town i think i would enjoy living in. once they actually get the metro finished it will be downright pleasant.

sunny flowers, sandy beaches

and then, on to goa! another night bus (we're getting quite used to these) and we were there. from margao it was another not-unpleasant city bus ride all the way down to palolem. the beach was evidently all but empty as recently as 9 or 10 years ago. now it's developed but without being overly crowded - beach shacks, restaurant/bars, pretty much what you'd expect. after a day our other friends arrived and we were in full-on relaxation mode. the basic pattern was breakfast, sun, jump in sea, read on beach, lunch, sea, read, happy hour, etc. etc. you get the idea. we interspersed our beach time with other activities - shopping, yoga (for some), wandering and taking pictures down along the coast, and even kayaking one day. ambitious, given that the birthday celebrations were the night before. we went all the way out to a nearby island - much easier to get to than to get back from, as it turns out.

colors of agonda

we mixed it up a bit by heading to agonda one day, a lovely very quiet beach just a few kilometers north. (we had gone in hopes of finding hookah, but there was none to be had there either.) the beach seems almost deserted - it is low season, after all. we enjoyed some fantastic calamari, had a few g&ts and jumped in the water one more time before heading back to palolem for their 'silent noise' party. let me explain for you old fogeys reading this. the beach has a noise restriction after 10pm (to protect the sea turtle eggs.. or maybe because the locals just want some quiet) so to get around this one bar has a party every saturday where the music is disseminated through headphones that everyone gets at the door. it was a new experience and i think it's safe to say everyone had a great time.

leaving goa was, as always, a struggle. but i suppose there's a limit to how much you can sit on the beach and do nothing.

just kidding. of course there isn't!

holi moly!

following a quick trip to kerala for a fabulous fulbright conference (all expenses paid!) i jetted straight off to delhi to spend holi with friends. this was probably the most anticipated festival for me. probably? who am i kidding. it's on my bucket list, for goodness' sake. i was really excited about this. i mean i'd played holi with friends before in the states. but something about being in india where everyone around you is dancing and celebrating and covered in color just seemed fantastic.

i arrived the day before holi, which is actually holi itself - people light bonfires at night; the color part comes the day after. the next morning we rose early to the sounds of drums that seemed to be right outside the window. and, in fact, probably were. we hesitated a bit before going outside, content to enjoy our breakfast before getting totally covered. we managed to hold off for some time but eventually a few of the neighbors came over to play. toto (my friend's dog) was the first to get it: pink water, right on the nose. a few of us began to venture outside, receiving the obligatory cheek smear and 'happy holi' greeting from friends and neighbors. a group of women encircled me and pounced. fresh meat. (imported, even.) and then it was all over. colored powder was in the air, the dhols were out, music was blasting from car stereos, dance circles began, and fried foods were being dished out at the neighborhood celebration in the alley.

beware the small canisters

a friend arrived and, after properly welcoming him with a face full of colors, we ventured out into the city. i should mention here that delhi on holi can be a daunting place. colors aside (which are usually made with some sort of toxic chemicals), there are people who like to play 'dirty' holi, which can include dumping eggs, grease - you name it - on unsuspecting passersby. not to speak of the drunken groping which can happen later in the day. needless to say, we were hoping to avoid these things. but it was still early and the streets were fairly empty. on the way we passed some typical sights - children chasing one another, men pouring out bhang lassis, and of course plenty of stands selling gulal (colors). we stopped at one such stand to stock up on necessities.

then across town to another neighborhood where we found a place to park and walked down into the other friend's neighborhood. on the way we were subject to attacks of projectile colors (mostly in water form) from the kids on upstairs balconies. they were so excited when they got the gori (that would be me, folks). we retrieved our friend, who greeted us with all-natural gulal (fancy!), and we returned to the main road, opening ourselves up to overhead assaults once again. we arrived on the street just in time to greet my friends who had arrived from england just a few days prior. they're pretty fair-skinned even by british standards so you can imagine how white they must have looked next to all of our color. well, naturally we wasted no time in taking care of that. before long they looked like all the other tourists they had been making fun of in their hotel that morning. we had a quick stop at another gulal stand and had a quick bite - samosas and pakoras, with probably a dash of chemicals from our colored hands.

aftermath (this used to be white)

from there it was back to my friend's place (the first one). and, yes, the car had been suitably prepared for the inevitabilities of holi (read: trashbags and old towels on the seats). by the time we got back the main celebrations in the neighborhood were over but it didn't stop us from having our own fun. plenty of color attacks and lots of dancing, accompanied by a little whisky (parading as appy fizz). in the end we were covered head to toe. one friend, in a particularly malicious move, got us with the tiny canister of color concentrate: just add water and you'll be pink for a week. guaranteed!* after we'd had our fun we took our turns in using the bathroom, turning the tiles and towels successively pinker one by one. my hair, neck and parts of my face remained quite pink, even after several scrubbings and even using that horrible green soap that's only used on dishes and, probably, hulls of boats and rusty tanks. that may have been more damaging than the toxic colors, all told. after we were (marginally) cleaned up we met and gathered at a different friend's place across town for a night of food and relaxing.

overall it was a great introduction to holi. while it was pretty tame, i didn't want to go too crazy and venture out into the chaos of the city. although i do regret not taking more pictures (my main camera still has some colors on it; i switched to my little point and shoot for fear of permanent damage) and getting closer to some of the action. i'm sure i'll be back, though. and next time i'll get a little more into the mix. really get my hands dirty.

*i now know this to be true for a fact.
 

caves of wonders

after giving my mom a whirlwind two-day tour of bombay we headed out for aurangabad. we ended up flying which seems a little ludicrous given that it's in the same state. buses and trains run regularly but we were short on time so for us this was the way to go. why go to aurangabad? well it has the advantage of being a small city between the cities of ajanta and ellora, both of which have ancient caves with sculptures and paintings.

the first day we checked into our fabulous hotel (i'd forgotten what it's like to have a room with a tv, much less a refrigerator or a hotel pool - traveling with your mother has definite advantages), got ready and set out to find an auto to take us to ellora. mom was ready to agree to the price our cab driver had quoted (to be fair, less than the hotel's prices, yes, but those were ludicrous) but i wasn't having it. in
the end we got an auto and payed a modest but ample sum for the 2 hour round-trip drive.

to contextualize this a bit, i should add that ajanta and ellora were two of the earliest discoveries of ancient indian sculpture, made by early british 'orientalists' (to oversimplify: the good kind, not the edward said kind). it was also some of the earliest indian art i was exposed to (along with the stupas at sanchi), in asian and indian art classes so they have something a sentimental/nerdy, art historical appeal for me as well.

notice the faux-wooden ceiling beams

when we reached ellora we of course had to fend off the inevitable book peddlers and would-be guides before buying our tickets (10 rs, for me, thank you very much). once inside the path led to the middle of the set of caves; we chose to visit the latter half first. there are over 30 caves (mostly hindu and buddhist, but a few jain), some only separated by a few meters, others quite a bit farther. the guidebooks like to choose their favorites to highlight so we kept that in mind but also stopped wherever we felt like it. the first few caves we stopped in had minimal, but quite excellent, carvings of larger-than-life bodhisatvas and guardian figures. i had to remind myself there was much more to see. we continued on, exploring caves with, usually, a central buddha figure in the back niche and other figures flanking it. there were some lovely carvings of scenes like 'shiva and parvati playing dice' and 'ravana shaking the mountain' (ravana proved hard to find though, as he didn't appear to have 10 heads). at one point we came to an impasse, the narrow path, which followed some steps down and then edged along the curve of a small cliff, was blocked, presumably because the steps were a little worn. this was probably the dumbest thing anyone could have done - since the scaffolding they placed over it didn't preclude anyone from climbing around the side of it along the border of the stairs. which is exactly what people did. surely edging along the side of a staircase (and cliff, as it were) clinging to some bamboo scaffolding is much more unsafe than some worn-down steps. i was convinced we could get across - as we watched many people do the same, but mom was unsure (rightly so) so we had to turn back. one of the authorities - who would sporadically yell at people not to climb around (to no avail) - told us there was a path above. somewhere. perhaps there was, but if so we never found it.

we came back to the middle, where had begun, and continued on, skipping the central cave, which we knew was by far the largest and most elaborate. we walked on and saw some fantastic structures - caves with arches and beams that mirrored those in wooden architecture at the time (it's amazing how many cultures have done that), and of course humbling, reverent buddha figures at the far end. it was quite a sight, and the crowds were such that if you waited a few minutes you'd probably have any of the particular caves to yourself. we made our way onward, exploring some caves and not others, stopping for a sit in the shade and a snack of oranges.

not sure this does cave 16 justice.. it was massive

finally we arrived at cave 16, the main attraction. this cave blows all the others out of the water, in terms of both scale and sheer amount of sculpture. it can't even be called a cave, really, except that it was underground until it was discovered in the 19th century. it's actually a series of multi-storied temple structures surrounded by a covered arcade. the structures themselves have fabulous heavy relief sculptures, from goddesses (these are largely hindu) hybrid animals to giant, almost freestanding elephants (who sadly had a lot of broken trunks). there were even some traces of paint on some of the sculptures. what an amazing sight, and a good note to end on.

we had a long leisurely auto ride back punctuated by a stop for chai and pagodas. back at the hotel we relaxed by the pool, enjoyed a lovely hotel dinner and ordered a movie to our room. this is more like it!

the next day was ajanta, a longer (about 3 times longer) ride that my mom didn't relish taking in an auto. instead we hopped an auto to the bus station where, indeed, we were approached by someone offering us a cab. there was apparently a dearth of cabs that day due to a local election but we still got a pretty decent price and were able to travel alone. one long nap later and we arrived at ajanta to the same fanfare of perspective guides and all sorts of vendors. cold drink? ice cream? book? postcard? we bypassed them all - including one very insistent man who was convinced my mom needed to be carried on a chair over the site's various steps. no thanks, bud.

entering ajanta

a bit like ellora, the caves at ajanta are arranged around a small sort of valley. they follow a horseshoe shape, so you walk around the curve of the hill. evidently in the rainy season there are waterfalls to be seen but of course, being february we saw none of those. no matter, the main attraction was the caves themselves.

we walked into the first cave and i was astounded to see one of the most famous paintings there, right off the bat. if you've perused any books on indian art you may have seen this image - of a sinuous figure whose torso seems to follow the curves of the lotus vine he holds. the cave walls and ceiling are all covered with detailed paintings such as this, some in better repair than others. there were quite a few people there but once again, with some patience, and a tripod, i was able to get a few worthwhile shots.

and now a moment on the state of the sites. i, and perhaps you too, have been reading lately about UNESCO world heritage sites and the effects of that label on their security and protection. in theory that status is meant to protect the sites from destruction and provide funds for their preservation. however funding seems uneven at best and often sites are left with few resources and a lot of extra attention (thanks to this new label). what i witnessed at each of these sites was some sporadic conservation and even more sporadic security. at the entrance of some caves guards were stationed, warning people against using flash and ensuring they removed their shoes. of course for every group of 50 that went in there were inevitably 1 or 2 who ended up using the flash either in ignorance or blatant disregard for the posted rules. at one point i was reprimanded for using a tripod (which, with its round plastic bottoms, surely did less damage than the feet of the 30 people who shuffle in there every other minute). as i was asking why this policy was in place, a buddhist family had gone up to the main idol to touch and take pictures with it. as the guard realized what was going on, he went (belatedly) to stop them, but as i pointed out to him - surely that's a more important problem than my 8 oz. tripod. then later at one of the more famous caves i was horrified to see scores of people going up and touching the reclining buddha figure. surely if my tripod's not allowed, that shouldn't be either. so, i suppose my final conclusion is that security is uneven and haphazard at best.

paintings everywhere

alright, back to the caves. we continued on admiring the impressive paintings (sadly few remain in good condition) and more buddhas figures. the final cave was that with the large reclining buddha. it was as impressive as the cave was crowded, including a japanese group that seemed bent on standing in front of the statue, taking pictures, and touching it as long as possible. not quite as quiet as the day before had been, but we still enjoyed the spectacular sites.

we hiked back, this time down through the small valley, past the vendors and back to our cab with a fanta for the road. one more night at our fabulous hotel and it was back to bombay the next day. from there it was just a quick stop in the city and then back to the airport. this time, bangkok-bound…

joa jao jaisalmer

i was barely back in bombay for two days before i was on the road again. (it seems to be my style of late, for better or worse. i miss you bombay, i really do.) this time it was a train to delhi and i traveled in style. rajdhani style. a fancy 3rd AC train ride (with meals) and i woke up after just 15 short hours in delhi once again.

a day well-spent at the surajkund craft mela (oops, didn't know there would be textiles. bye bye, rupees) and an evening with my friend's family. our other two travel companions arrived in the night (and i was rudely not awoken for midnight biryani. straight from hyderabad, i should add. humph!) and we were off early in the morning.

our destination was jaisalmer, for the 'desert festival', whatever that might entail. i had visions of the so-called camel dances of the pushkar fair in my head. i had been told variously that jaisalmer was 'beautiful, the golden city!' and 'completely over-hyped, with nothing there'. guess i figured i'd find out for myself. our route took us through bikaner, with plenty of stops for the essentials - chai, dhaba fare, and cigarettes (not for me, mom. don't worry) after we left the delhi radio stations behind we realized we had little in the way of musical entertainment, but we made do. (and when that got repetitive we bought some blank CDs for some variety.)

after a full day of driving we arrived in bikaner and managed to get a great price on a lovely haveli, thanks to our friend who the manager remembered from three years ago. our rooms had cushioned window seats, tvs, and room service. everything we needed. we even managed to catch (read: join in) the last bit of the rajasthani 'folk dance' in the restaurant.

snack time

the next day we were on a mission. do a little sightseeing, get some provisions, and get out of town. all of this somehow took us until 2pm. first it was a little jaunt to the 'rat temple'. yes, it's what it sounds like. you enter the temple and dozens and dozens of rats scurry past you towards the bits of food or giant bowls of milk. you try not to think of all the diseases you're probably walking through as you traverse the marble floor barefoot. certainly a unique experience though.

car snacks. must for any road trip

rooftop view

from there we headed back to jaisalmer. or so we thought. about 12 kilometers out we realized we were heading the wrong direction. once we turned ourselves around and got back into town we set out to accomplish our aims: the girls would acquire the all-important bikaner namkeen (they don't call it bikanerwala for nothing), and the boys were to get the proper dinner fixin's for the evening. hours later, we were in the car enjoying the fruits of our labor - snacking on namkeen as our chicken and paneer marinated in the trunk (the marinade, by the way, we prepared at a dhaba, and the local puppies were all too happy to have us.)

finally around 9:00 we arrived in jaisalmer. our hotel was supremely located with a gorgeous rooftop view of the fort. by night, fully illuminated, the sight is unbeatable. the hotel graciously let us use their rooftop space to cook. but man was it cold! we bundled ourselves as we waited impatiently for the coals to get hot or the whiskey to warm us up. we were rewarded with a delicious meal and some post-dinner dancing.

the next morning we took it slow as, frankly, there's not a lot to do in jaisalmer. we walked about the area outside the fort and spent a good deal of time at various leather shops. it was worth the time though, because we all walked away with something and got a pretty good price at that. next was lunch at a place recommended by our leather guy. dal bati churma and some other rajasthani dishes made for a good meal. from there it was into the fort. it's known as a 'living fort' because for some reason the government has decided to allow people to live and operate businesses inside the fort. this means that the fort is full of hotels, restaurants, and vendors as well as local families. it also means a lot of waste, both in and around the fort area. as my friend put it, 'it's not a living fort; it's a dying fort.' sad but true.

rippling and golden

that evening we drove out the 25 or so kilometers to the edge of the desert. we had made a deal for a camel ride package at one of the many resorts. we got there and mounted our camels (only 2 so we had to share) and walked about 1000 meters into the very beginning of the dunes. we could still see the road and the row of resorts. there, our guides let us down and told us that was it. unless, of course, we wanted to pay more to go to a nearby village. we were a little annoyed and declined, choosing instead to sit in the dunes, buy some overpriced snacks (because, yes, even in the desert there are peddlers), and wait for the sun to set. the dunes were nice, being sand dunes, but i guess i've been spoiled by the great expanses of the sahara i've seen in morocco and tunisia. it was enjoyable, but i wasn't blown away.

after sunset, we were hurried onto our camels for a quick, bumpy ride back to the resort. here we were seated on mattresses laid around a giant cement circle. we were served chai and snacks as the show began. rajasthani performers of various kinds.. music, dance, fire breathing and some balancing acts. it was entertaining, but not quite as much as the obscenely drunk man who insisted on butting in on every part of the show. why they didn't ask him to leave i'm not sure (but i suspect the amount of expensive drinks he was buying had something to do with it.) we declined the resort's expensive dinner option and headed back into town for another local-recommended place. this time non-veg and it was delicious!

the next morning it was up early for a breakfast of kachori near the fort and one last tool around the old town. then it was back on the road to jodhpur. there's just something about driving in india that's so wonderful. the roads we had in rajasthan were all great, and there was hardly anyone on them. it just feels very relaxed. and then the dhabas. well, you just can't compare that to a US rest stop. you just can't. even with several chai stops we arrived at jodhpur a little early so we stopped at a nearby lake for a quick boat ride. it's crazy to think that there are so many little attractions like this all over india. sometimes i just step back and think 'where am i?' and have to remind myself that i'm in the middle of one state or another in india. it's a good feeling.

and with that (and another stop for street food) i was on my way. my friends waited with me on the platform for the train and saw me off. they continued on the road to jaipur. and i rode the rails back to bombay, only to leave again after two days. (see what i meant?)

hampi.. history, hippies, hummus

from pondicherry we hopped on a bus back to chennai, then took a train to bangalore, and from there an overnight to hospet. from hospet it was an auto ride to hampi, where we cross the river jammed into a tiny boat and walk the remaining kilometer along the path lined with guest houses. easy as pie.

where's dino?

hampi, as expected, was pretty much filled with white people. which for some reasons means that 'german bakeries' and restaurants with menus that feature israeli food or pizza seem to pop up all over. so, as i said, i was expecting the abundance of absurdly clothed and hairstyled (or should i say non-styled) foreigners. what i wasn't expecting was how beautiful it was there! everywhere we went we were surrounded by gorgeous green rice paddies, palm trees, and crazy rock formations that look like something out of the flintstones.

climbing to the top

one evening we were wandering around, taking in the scenery in the glowing orange light. an auto rickshaw passed by and two spanish girls yelled out with an invitation to go to the monkey temple. in a few minutes we found ourselves climbing the hundreds of white washed stairs that lead up the side of a mountain. it was a long hike so we made sure to stop plenty of times to take in the gradually changing view. the panorama, bathed in the golden light was really quite remarkable. and then we reached the top and arrived at the so called 'monkey temple' which apparently is thought to be the birthplace of hanuman. no wonder there were so many aunties climbing all the way up there. the view was beautiful as we watched the sun go down over the rocks. the unexpected discoveries are so often the best ones.

the next day we set out to explore the ruins of hampi, the remnants from the vijayanagar empire. evidently most of the remaining structures are only from the 16th century, which begs the question why are they in such lousy shape?

after crossing the river again we found a place to rent some bicycles - old and rickety as usual - and made our way towards the first set of ruins. we biked all around and still, i'm sure, only saw a fraction of the sites which span acres upon acres. we ended up making a pretty big circuit, in the end probably biking across 15 kilometers or so. but we had lots of breaks to enjoy the temples, scenery, and occasional popsicle.

exquisite carvings

the last temple on our must-see list was the vitthala temple. a long trek, but we figured we could finish the circuit on bike and head back to bazaar road and make the last-boat 6.00 deadline. the temple was pretty spectacular, especially in that gorgeous amber light of early dusk. the carvings on the pillars and exteriors were in fantastic shape. it was certainly worth the trek.

the ride back however... i should say i'm using the word 'ride' very loosely here. the first few minutes we did ride our bikes away from the temple complex. then we hit the rocks. at first pretty flat, nothing we couldn't walk our bikes over. then they got bigger. and craggier. and finally there were out and out hills. pretty much everyone walking by commented on the four strange white girls who seemed to think you could bike across a kilometer of craggy granite hillside. some favorites were 'mountain biking?' and 'power lifting?' eventually we had to carry the bikes part of the way - principally up the stairs and over the larger chasms.

but somehow we made it back to the main road, returned our bikes, and - yes! - made it back to the boat launch site with 25 minutes to spare. a hampi success. the rest of the night was spent relaxing over dinner and enjoying a few well-deserved beers as we watched one of the movies offered at the local restaurants (they know there's little to do in hampi at night and seem to know their audience pretty well, at least based on the movie selection).

the next day we spent visiting the nearby town of anegundi (this time by rickshaw/walking), just 7 kilometers away. the kishkinda trust has come in to encourage sustainable tourism and integrating the locals so that they can benefit from the economy. we wandered around and saw what there was to see, although it was pretty sleepy on a sunday.

the rest of our time in hampi was spent relaxing. with little internet connection and little else to do, we enjoyed our remaining hours sipping lassis and reading or napping in the sun on the swings outside our cottage. not bad, hampi. not bad.

pretty little pondicherry

i've always been sort of intrigued by pondicherry. initially because it had such a cute name. i mean, pondicherry? it sounds adorable. then when i found out about its major french influence, i was sold. having now spent several months in india almost entirely pastry and non-amul cheese -less, i was hopeful for some authentic food if nothing else.

pondicherry did not disappoint! a charming little town, it boasts both lingering french influences and actual french people - thanks to the prominent ex-pat community. each street has two names, one french and the other vaguely tamil or perhaps the name of a person (confusing for the mailman, i'm sure). the city is divided into sections - french, tamil, muslim etc and bifurcated by a canal that has surely seen better days.

petit déj, anyone?

we stayed at a quaint little guest house (le rêve bleu.. charmant, non?) that seems to be popular with the french set - evidenced by the scene of baguette-tearing and cigarette-chain smoking we came down to in the morning. the french proprietess steered us towards the best bakery in town, baker street (english/sherlock holmes theme but thoroughly french) where we indulged in a breakfast of macarons (basil and vanilla olive oil) and croissants of the regular and almond variety (the latter was the best). french pastries at indian pastry prices? a rare find indeed.

properly stuffed, it was off to explore the city. we rented bikes and cycled around town, meandering here and there and stopping to take very similar pictures about every 30 meters. we made it out to the sea (which we later learned was a bay) and pedaled our way along the shoreline. at some point we stopped along the water at a cafe named, aptly, le café, where we had a lovely breeze and may have even been in the background of a (very cheesy) tamil music video.

colors of pondy

after some more wandering we made our way to a nondescript place farther down the beach for a quick drink as the sun was setting. on the way we stopped to see 'the elephant' who visits the temple each day to bless whoever wants to offer money or fruit. for a few rupees you can experience the warm breath of an elephant as its trunk brushes over your head. for dinner we met a friend of a friend for a rather nice meal - mostly south indian food (think rice and coconuts) with a fancy touch. i had the chicken chetinad - a local preparation - and we shared other seafood and curry dishes as well. delightful!

which kind of sums up pondicherry actually. it was a delight, and we left quite full.

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.

stop and goa

[disclaimer: i realize this is a beach post and that it's winter and probably dreary on the east coast, i do. read on if you'd like, but you've been warned.]

well this was perhaps the most impromptu trip i've ever taken. but it's goa. i always just figured a trip to goa would sort of happen. indeed it did. my friend had invited my roommate and me to join her for her half-marathon/long weekend in goa. my roommate complied and, as soon as my plans freed up (friday, fewer than three hours before the bus was set to leave) i found myself booking a ticket. i had had a rough week, i justified to myself. i hurriedly threw a swimsuit, a few shirt and skirts into a bag and ran out to get the bus. so fast, in fact, that i walked right through a cowpie outside my apartment i had carefully avoided all day (yes, still wet). no matter! goa goa! onward.

well, come to find out, i needn't have hurried quite so much. i found myself waiting with a dozen or so other people on the curb next to a busy highway. buses sped by every few minutes and either zoomed by or slowed slightly to watch for potential passengers. i was starting to get nervous until i ran into my roommate, whose bus was supposed to have left an hour before mine. we called the bus conductor and realized my bus would be at least 30 minutes late (go figure). eventually it arrived, i took my pitiful (obviously last available) seat in the middle of the back row (yes, the 5 across row) and attempted to sleep despite being hurtled forward by the lurching bus every 5 minutes. one of the least pleasant nights i've spent anywhere (and, let's remember, i once spent a night in a bus station). my companions didn't fare much better - one slept next to the alternate driver's bed, the other next to a guy who puked all night. and all three of our buses got flat tires. but eventually we made it to goa, and that was all that mattered.

we spent a day in vasco, a nothing sort of a city that boasted little else besides the half marathon the following day. we took advantage of the proximity to go up to old goa and wander around the churches and museum (not a bad museum, i have to say. by indian standards anyhow.) the museums were interesting as i think they always are here, but i was surprised to see that they weren't decorated for christmas at all. after all, isn't christmas the time to go to goa?? although on the way home we did hear some particularly awful christmas music coming from a market, saw one church promenade lit up with lights and witnessed a skit performed under a banner that proclaimed 'mary's boy child.' oh my.

we took it easy, for rachel's sake, but also because we were all exhausted from our respective bus rides. that crazy girl woke up at some ungodly time that began with a 4 to go run 21 kilometers. kristen and i dragged ourselves out of bed around 8 but didn't manage to beat her to the finish line to watch. the race, cleverly, ended on the beach. so we took pictures of her with her medal and took a celebratory dip (wade) in the sea.

golden fried prawns, anyone?

and then, off to colva! the real beach. we arrived, we changed into bathing suits and practically ran to the water. we passed stands with sarongs, wine shops and cashews. but the three of us, all total beach bums, would not be deterred. we made our way through the so-called indian beach (what you probably would imagine - crowded. and full of people in full clothing (saw some belts. belts!) or underwear. (swimsuits, people!) and ended up on the more isolated, so-called russian beach (more on that later). we plopped ourselves down at the first restaurant/shack there, claimed some padded lounge chairs and made our way straight to the ocean.

doesn't get much better

dear. lord. that water was as warm as i have ever felt. like floating in a giant bathtub. we dove into waves, got sand in our ears, floated on our backs and soaked in the sun. in between splashing in the water we read, sat on the sand, and stuffed ourselves with fried seafood. your basic beach behavior. waiters came by at intervals to check on us or just to chat, with typical indian hospitality. around happy hour, whenever we decided that was, we got some cocktails. fresh mint mojitos? piña coladas? (did i mention goa has the cheapest alcohol in india and mumbai has the most expensive?) accompanied by a hookah at sunset. we watched the sun go down until they sky turned gray, the lights came on, and the locals started playing volleyball.

the following day was more or less a repeat of the first. with a few small additions/annoyances. goa isn't perfect, after all (though it is awfully close). the first came at breakfast the second morning. we arrived at 8.15, where we thought we would be one of the first to get our free nosh. well we hadn't counted on the russians. remember the russians i mentioned? well they're everywhere. signs all over are in cyrilic, just as in pushkar they were in hebrew. it seemed every guest at the hotel had descended on the breakfast at once, jostling each other for jam, pushing kristen out of the way when the much-awaited potatoes arrived. someone even stole my toast from the toaster! we tried to steer clear, but this was easier said than done. as a group they had rather boxy frames (and usually haircuts to match). the russians at our beach bar were little better. they communicated in russian, or grunts. the only english i heard was from one very surly russian who snarled, in a stereotypical boris badenov accent 'i will kill you' and went on to order the waiter to bring him his juice in two minutes. what a pain having juices prepared with such fresh fruit!

(i should add here that i have nothing against the russians, nor am i trying to generalize about them as a whole. i'm just trying to describe the general demeanor of the ones we happened to meet.)

but no matter, we had a beach to get to. of course this as well was fraught with some obstacles (albeit ones we generally could avoid). walking through any stretch of crowded beach usually resulted in some sort of surreptitious - or blatant - picture-taking. on rare occasions, people would ask if they could take our pictures. uh, no.

all in all, though, we really couldn't complain. except of course, when it came to leaving. our last half day was spent trying to soak up every last drop of beachy goodness we could. we laid in the sun until it hurt, got smacked around by waves and ordered as much seafood as we could stomach. all the while getting more and more upset at the prospect of having to leave. kristen and i had an out-and-out tantrum when the kind of fish we wanted wasn't available for lunch. (alright, we weren't quite that bad, but we definitely got a little whiny/obnoxious) grudgingly, we made our way off the beach and got the essentials on the way out of town - cashews, cheap wine, sleeping pills for the bus, and frozen yogurt to soften the blow. before we knew it, we were on a sleeper bus driving in the opposite direction from the beach. (why?)

perfect end to a perfect day

and now, here we are, back in bombay and resenting every minute of it. haha, i don't know what it was about goa that made us such piggy little beach bums. maybe it's the crowds and chaos we deal with day-to-day in mumbai. maybe it's that i haven't been in a real sea in so long. or maybe goa is just amazing.

yup, that must be it.
is it too soon to book tickets back?

all in the families

i've spoken a little bit before about the hospitality i've encountered in india. well, here comes some more. i went to ajmer on something of a whim after pushkar. (i can only take so much dreadlocks and ali baba pants, you know) i texted a friend (really more of an acquaintance, at the time) that i'd be in ajmer asking for recommendations. seconds later, he called me giving me his parents' number and told me i would be staying with them.

nom nom namkeen

sure enough, a few days later i hopped off the bus in ajmer and was greeted by a grinning, friendly-faced man in a baseball cap who flagged me down and took me straight to his home. there i was offered chai and namkeen (tasty fried snacks, which just about everyone has just made during diwali) for the first of dozens of times in the subsequent days. we chatted, we rested, we shared meals together in a little picnic on the bed, we watched tv, we took walks on the roof (back and forth, back and forth), we visited family. overall it was lovely and relaxing.

entering the dargah, loaded with offerings

his parents were both busy with work during the day but i managed to get into the city and explore it a bit. i didn't do the fort, which is perhaps the biggest (literally, in any case) attraction in the city. i saw some mughal architecture here and there. and i even saw the craziness of the chisti dargah on bakri id/eid al-adha. it's a big muslim pilgrimage site on any given day, but on one of the more important islamic holidays the streets were particularly bustling. interesting how religious events here - whatever religion - seem to include offerings, whether they be flowers, candles, or foods.

old streets of ajmer

aside from people watching, i did my own roaming around the city and doing two of my favorite things (shopping and taking pictures). i wandered around the old streets, popping into havelis here and there, admiring doorways, and attracting a lot of confused stares (as usual. but then i was pretty far out of tourist turf here). i stopped on a whim for some mosambi juice or a little daal ka halwa when the mood struck.

rolls and rolls

i also indulged in my latest obsession - buying trim! in theory i'm buying trim (or ribbon, but ribbon just makes it sound like i'm wrapping a christmas present) that will match fabric i've bought for kurtas, though some are just too pretty not to buy. i'll find a purpose for them later. plus they're so cheap (even compared to bombay prices)! after i had had my fill of shopping (chappals, incense, snacks, glass bangles, and snacks for the train) i tracked down a rickshaw, haggled for a decent price back to the family's house, and silently reminded myself to be grateful i live in a city where i never have to do that.

that night, as i said, was eid, and i found out we had been invited to a dinner at a muslim friend's home. delicious mutton with plenty of oil - yum! only then did i realize that i couldn't remember the last time i'd had meat (non-veg, here). i tried not to stuff myself too much which ended up being a very good thing, since from there we went directly to a wedding, where i was presented with a smorgasbord of snacks and desserts. i managed to make room for dahi wada, halwa, and gulab jamun, but had to pass on the dosas (and many other things, i'm sure). i even managed to make my way to the dance floor for some good old bollywood dancing with some perfect strangers. i could have stayed longer (my friend later told me his mother said it was 'hard to get me off the dance floor'.. oops) but still it was a fun night.

from there it was a sad goodbye to a new family and hello to a new one. i took the night train (my first in sleeper class, totally fine!) to indore and was greeted by a car and driver. this family, parents of my mom's neighbors and friends, lives right in indore in a really lovely, airy house with pale blue walls. i was of course offered the requisite tea and a chance to 'get fresh'. i happily took a sorely-needed shower before a delicious homemade lunch.

traffic jam

the next day i was taken to mandu, a town that was 2 hours of winding, often bumpy roads from indore. in addition to the driver, i was joined by uncle and the 12-year old daughter of family friend's. she graciously shared her music with me, asking me every other song if the (american) musicians were famous in the US. to her continual shock, they all were. and that, my friends, is how i was graced with the sounds of the jonas brothers for the first time. if you haven't had this experience, you're not missing much. the same few chords along with repetitions of the same inane lyrics, pretty much what you'd expect. on the way back we listened to hindi music, which was much more my speed (because in india my music tastes are about equivalent to that of a pre-teen). the other highlight of the drive was the herds and herds of sheep and be-turbaned shepherds we passed on the roads. like a sea of wool!

now that's a window

at any rate, mandu itself wasn't much. at one point there were something like 40 or 50 mughal forts and palaces spread across the town, of which only a few remnants remain. we explored three or four of the bigger ones and there were some interesting elements. sadly this also coincided with my camera acting up, but i did at least get the shot i came to get (see right). it's a pity the forts, and roads, aren't better maintained. but such things are not always priorities.

in indore itself we saw the typical things.. a musty old out of place baroque palace and a rather pitiful museum. there are good things here, but generally the state of these city museums is rather sad! i'd love to give them some TLC if someone would let me. we also saw the glass temple, a jain temple that certainly lives up to the moniker. every inch of the place is glass! no photography, of course, but it was quite a sight to behold.

sabudana khichdi, nice and spicy!

the main reason i came to indore (besides meeting up with family of friends) was twofold: eating and shopping. i was completely taken care of in both regards. i showed the family a list of a few things i had heard or read i should try in indore. upon seeing the list, uncle popped out to get me one dish (subudana khichdi - YUM) for breakfast and auntie planned to make another for lunch (baingan ka bharta, a delicious eggplant dish, with baajre ki roti, some of tastiest i've had), which she also showed me how to make. i was thoroughly spoiled! and then for shopping we headed out for some textile shopping. i was taken directly to the cloth market and directed to the best shop. there was no shortage of great materials and i had great fun, as usual, poring over them and matching colors. i walked out with 9 new fabrics (i may have a problem!) and a smile on my face.

in the few hours before my last meal in the city i spent time with auntie looking at lovely old pictures and going through her beautiful saris. by the time i left indore (another night train), i really did feel like i was part of the family. the goodbyes on the platform very nearly got teary.

i had an absolutely lovely trip and it really is because of the wonderful people i've met. it seems the more places i go to, the more i need to re-visit. it never ends! but i don't suppose that's a bad thing.