It is my last night in Calcutta. I'm pretty happy about that. I don't know if it's best to analyze my experience whilst still in the middle of it, or wait until my senses have had a chance to decompress to give it a fair opinion. Whatever, i have time to kill so i might as well ramble. To reuse one of my headlines, i think Calcutta to me, can be most accurately described as purgatory, as defined by the internet dictionary: 3. any condition or place of temporary punishment, suffering, expiation, or the like. -adjective 4. serving to cleanse, [View Full Entry]

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When i was young, i used to venture every now and again to papaw's garage. It was a tall barn that had high ceilings and an office loft. I don't know what sort of business he conducted there, but i remember it seeming very exotic at my age. My little eyes would peer over the countless tools sprawled about, and the mysterious leaks and oil pools on the ground. There was a smell of sweaty metal, and everything in the garage, including his hands, were covered in a black film. Calcutta is kind of like that. I wish i could explain [View Full Entry]

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i was good today. Instead of sleeping in on the holiday, i actually woke up at 5:30 and practiced my yoga. My plan for the day was to just walk around and see what sort of festival buzz i could catch going on around me. I haven't really had the time or energy to see Bangalore by foot, so i was looking forward to getting lost. i still haven't figured out what the festival is celebrating, but everyone seems to be in good spirits, and doors are lined with flowers and leaves, and there's this white fruit outside of doors [View Full Entry]

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There is a neighborhood dog that i have befriended. Actually there's 3 of them, Burt, Ernie, and Jerry (i named them). I think i am the only person who's actually had the balls to pet them (although i only do this when i know i can wash my hands immediately afterwards) and they took a liking to me. But Ernie, my best bud, is jealous and he won't let any of the other dogs get near me when it's petting time. So over the past couple of weeks the others have sort of disappeared. But Ernie walks me to and [View Full Entry]

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So i didn't really know where we were going or what temples we were visiting, or even the names of the towns. At each temple, guides are more than happy to offer their services for a small fee, but seeing as i have no attention span or power of retention, i opted against them. I'm sure there's a lot of fascinating information that i missed, but visiting temples such as these for me, is more of a sensual experience. I like to survey the details of the carvings, the particular type of stone that was used, the devotion of the [View Full Entry]

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Driving in India is an experience. I've encountered the crazy jumble of the Cairo street system, almost had a head on collision with a semi in Jordan, had some near misses on the back of a motorcycle in Vietnam, and actually hit someone on a bike while in a taxi in Hanoi. You would think that these experiences might have conditioned me to the hectic my-way-no-right-of-way driving style often experienced abroad. India is a little different in that i have to be careful when i cross the street because cars are coming from the opposite way than i'm used to. [View Full Entry]

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The first step on our little road jaunt was a temple that was built on top of a giant outcropping of stone. I wouldn't so much call it a mountain, but maybe just a really big rock. We had to climb 400 or so stairs to get to the top, but when we did, the views were rewarding. In all of the temples we visited, it was a prerequisite that shoes must be removed. This usually entailed leaving them in the car with Shiva and then tip toeing around fragments of shredded plastic, cow crap, and discarded fruit. Once we [View Full Entry]

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I woke up this morning at 5, the jetlag still lingering. I tried to go back to sleep but it was useless. Outside of my cracked window there looked to be a beautiful dawn breaking. Being the photojournalist i am, i decided i would take a rare occasion to capture some street scenes in the morning light. Morning strolls of this nature have become one of my favorite travel experiences. There is something very calming and dreamy about watching the world wake up. The air is not yet thick with exhaust fumes, the cars aren't yet beeping incessantly at eachother. People [View Full Entry]

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There is a mobile phone network here that is called "STD." i have seen signs for it everywhere and i took me a while to figure out what it was they were advertising. I had to chuckle when i came apon a billboard in English that showed a happy couple, mouths agape mid-laugh, clutching their mobile phones. The words read: "STD.....Keeping you connected." Now if that's not funny then you suck and have no sense of humor. I took a flight last night from Delhi to Bangalore on an airline called Air Sahara. Most American airlines i know have tag lines [View Full Entry]

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Translation: a better room in Bangalore. I was going for the rhyme thing. I am here at my month long destination and it feels good. It's about 10 degrees cooler than Delhi, maybe a tad bit less filthy--maybe, and seems to be a pretty progressive city for India. I have only seen the city's innards by night and i felt guilty for being happy that most of the billboards were in English and i saw more than one pizza hut. I stayed at an annoyingly expensive hotel last night ($26) because i arrived in town late and that was the hotel [View Full Entry]

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