Hogennakal Falls and Shoolagiri

Khushboo's wedding!

Ham to desi log hain

Why, hello again! I'm back in India - this time not to learn a language, but to work on a project. I'm going to try to keep this blog more personal and not project related (though this distinction is likely to be blurred). Nonetheless, for project stuff, see www.sindhivoices.org

After leaving Delhi last August, I was so ready not to come back that I destroyed all of my SBI (State Bank of India) documents - which unfortunately, included my atm card pin number that I cannot recall for the life of me. Anyhow, just wanted to share so you get a sense of how kind of fortuitous and unforeseen this whole year has been/will be. But things were pointing this way for a while it seems. Before leaving my mom and I cleaned out my room at and sorted through memorabilia from as far back as 1^st grade! While browsing through a survey I had filled out from 3^rd grade, my mom and I were taken aback to see that under “Future Art Project,” I had written Pakistan project?!?

I got to Delhi last week where my welcoming now inspires the title of this blog post. The Delhi airport is brand spanking new. I must admit I miss the the familiar low ceilings and that welcomed me in the middle of the night after a long flight/catch up time on new releases. In response to all of the “fancy shmancy” newness – bright lights, signs, glam duty free stores, and a car garage with labels on each column so it’s easy to find one’s card and a system where parking fees are linked to time spent at airport, my uncle, frustrated by the confusion created by it all, the time it spent to find his parked car, exclaimed, after the complications of getting his parking ticket to fit into the reader slot, “inone to foreign country bana diya hai, ham to desi log hain.”

Badal to gaya hai delhi hamara. Hamara? Maybe not? But do-tin mahine ke liye to han. Notice it more especially now that I am living in South Delhi with a friend. “Development” everywhere. How interesting is the disconnect between large scale “development”/”modernization” and the supposes beneficiaries that my uncle’s response points to.

I’ll briefly update you on my whereabouts since my arrival. On Sunday, I celebrated my birthday (in Delhi for the second time?!) with some friends. We just had some snacks in Bengali Market and went to see “Ramkali,” a Hindi adaptation of one of Brecht’s plays - not sure if the original had multiple fun music/dance sequences. Yesterday, Asiya and I, both having never gone before, finally visited Nizamuddin for Thursday night qawwali. We were there for only three qawwalis and I happened to know the second one – chhap tilak – one of my faves because it reminds me of a dear friend! Despite being quite the tourist attraction, the moments at the dargah felt movingly personal.

Tomorrow we are having a dinner party – turns out there are a small bunch of us UT vaalas in Delhi this weekend. Hook ‘em! Though I’ve never been able to get my UT grad school friends to engage in the same kind of Longhorn spirit so notable in my undergrad.

Cochin, Kerala!!

I decided to end my yearlong stay in India with a short vacation in Kerala:




Church - I think this one used to house Vasco de Gama's remains

Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Hindus all find a home in Kerala

Chinese fishing net

A fisherman caught several crabs and fish and left them in this steel pot. As I sat reading my book, the crabs trying to escape caught my attentions. Out of five, three escaped after many tries! It was quite fascinating to see the crabs go.





because I love trees. how they provide for us.


yummy keralan meal, banana leaf and all!

Mulshi

Shrita, Matt, and I went to Mulshi to pick up my mom from the Kare Ayurvedic clinic. It's located in the beautiful village side of Pune. The rains made the hills look divine.

kathak peshkash

Ulhasnagar

On Saturday, I visited Ulhasnagar. Of note was my meeting with Narayan Bharati and singar ji mithai. Delicious. I could reflect a lot more of course but am not quite sure what I am feeling. I was very moved by my visit to "barrack #2", now Kamla Meghani's house. Sitting inside the barrack, I felt waves of nostalgia for something I have never known.


an army barrack cum Sindhi family home.

Chaaliya mandir

Walk through the old city.

famous Ganapati mandir

On Thursday, my friend Sarathy and I roamed the old city. This included the red light district. The descriptions I have read in short stories were right on par. The brothels were marked with mele kapde on the balconies. It's interesting to see how integrated the red light district is into the city landscape. It appeared to be in the middle of a residential area with the usual number of corner shops. There were families with children around and the people traffic was no quieter than expected.

We ventured into Tulsibaug where the demographics changed dramatically. Women and more women all over the place. Apparently, Tulsibaug is the place for ladies to get a deal on kitschy jewelery. purses, and the like. On the way, we stumbled upon this really awesome wholesale market. The railings in the old city are so intricate, and so beautiful. The elaborate railings give a lot of character to the buildings. A really fun day all and all. We both were provoked by the pronounced difference from one end to the other end of MG road. Narrow to wide, vernacular to English, cycles to cars, old to new.


cool building


typical lane in the old city



a dargah smack dab in the middle of a street


if you think the world might run out of onions, you haven't been here. (wholesale market)

a day in the life.

beautiful/strategic lookout point


the fort's parameters


part of the gang

baaaa


top of the hill


Maharasthra boasts 600 some odd military forts. Those of the Portugese, the Marathas, the Moghuls, etc. are speckled across the state. Many of them are still relatively unexplored. After visiting Singhagad and all of its commercialism thereby tons of consumer waste, it was refreshing to see another fort outside of Pune proper that had been left alone. Today we hiked up Marhalgarh Fort, reputed to be the last fort that Shivaji built. After a nice drive on the Mumbai-Bangalore highway we hit Saswad. From here on there was a kaccha path through villages to the fort. It took us about an hour to get to the top and besides some detours…my sunglasses came off with a strong gust of wind and they fell down a ways so I had to backtrack a bit, it was a very smooth, pleasant hike. The weather was just great – slightly cloudy with light rain showers here and there. We hung out on the top for a while, took a nap, and ate some grub. On the way back we stopped for bhajiyas but got Maharasthra’s famous missal pav instead. All in all a fantastic day followed by awesome night out to attend the highly anticipated Bauchklnag concert. Gotta check this Austrian acapella band out, yo.


relaxing, all cool

lunch time!


gotta love Harshita's hair...the winds were crazy, hence the sunglasses also falling off