In the village:“Three boys approach me, laughing nervously but with smiles apparent in their bright eyes. We converse awkwardly, each side smiling and nodding. Through an absurd mixture of Hindi, English and broken sign language we make a modicum of understanding between ourselves.”
At the Taj Mahal: “Those same dark hands covered in adornments and ink are the same hands that convert touch into feeling and feeling into emotion.”
About the heat:“It was an absolute heat that no giant invisible hand could lift away. The inescapable blanket. And then it rained.”
At the train station:“I’ve come to not be able to differentiate between the people who are homeless and not. So I just decide most of them are not so I don’t have to ruin my piece of mind.”
At the Hindu temple in Jaipur:“His endless strand of beads slips slowly through his patient fingers.”
At the Hindu temple in Jaipur:“Eternally bloody and loving, the baleful face of murti glares at me.”
A conversation:
"Have you been to America?"
"For us it is a dream."
"It's so beautiful here."
"But it's not developed. In America, it might not be beautiful, but at least it's developed."
At Agra Fort:“It helps you to see what you really want to see and what you really want to say."
Things we’ve done thus far:
Seen the Taj Mahal
Visited Agra Fort
Checked out a Bird Sanctuary
Taken auto rickshaws and cycle rickshaws and safari jeeps
Visited many forts and palaces
Roamed the streets and taken old photographs
Lived in a palace
Visited a Hindu temple
Taken an overnight train!
All is well here.
Namaste from Jordan, Himali, Alex, and the NGSE India team
