Indian Summer 09

There is so much to write, I don't know where to begin. When I think of the India trip, the memories just overflow... I could write a book on just those five weeks. It was a walk down the memory lane after so many years.

When a tree falls in the forest, does it make noise? Does the moon exist when you are not looking at her? Well, people sure do even after you have lost contact with them for years. They grow up, change, and yet remain the same at heart. If I were to summarize my trip, I would say I saw familiarity juxtaposed with awsome. It was a common theme with people, places, food, economy... Going back after five years evokes feelings that you almost forgot existed.

And just like an Indian summer the trip ended in just five weeks. Each of those thirty five days seemed long, it was so full of experiences. Yet the days whirled past me and before I knew it was time to go back.

Pictures are supposed to be worth a thousand words. By the same token, moving pictures would be worth thousand pictures. In this digital age, you get to collects hundreds of pictures and video clips. I have all of them. Nicely arranged in albums. I look at them from time to time - we have to because Neil demands to see himself, otherwise he would not eat his breakfast - and the memories rush back. Some of them serve to bring back other memories - like pictures of hostel 5 in IIT. When I went there, it was deserted due to the summer. My room - room number 166 was locked. I was kind of glad, because I could not have beared to see it without the Madhubala. There is a new "taparee" on the corner of the hostel, the pond is gone, the mess and the lounge are shinier, so is the hostel exterior. My memories and feelings are contained in them. But I want them to last a little longer. That is another thing I learned in this trip - memories fade, they get worn out and unless you take care they just vanish. This blog is an attempt to preserve them for myself and my loved ones. Etch them in the digital stone so to speak. So I have decided to write multiple articles devoted to various themes, preferably illustrated by pictures and/or video clips - because the India trip cannot be summarized in one piece.

This is the picture of the famous "Vaari". Millions of people are going from Dehu and Alandi to Pandhari. They have been doing this for the past seven hundred years. I got to see it for the first time. Millions of devotees brave the simmering heat, and walk with bare necessities for hundreds of kilometers. Not just walk, but they sing and dance along the way. That is their way of connecting with God. Most of them are extremely poor. Many of them do this trip every year. This year it was hot sun, other years it is pouring rains, and sometimes it is both. But they diligently walk. The government tries to make water and some food available to the throng. People along the way pitch in with cups of tea, biscuits, food, and money. Some companies put up stalls to give them help. The vaari moves on in a fairly organized manner, like a giant juggernaut. Lisa and I walked with them for a few kilometers - we had to go in town and there was no rikshaw available because of the vaari. It was a moving experience. If I have some free time I would love to do the whole walk some day. I got a few glimpses of India that day. I knew they did this - I was familiar with it. But it is one thing to know as a dry fact and another to see for yourself. Seeing it touched me and changed me. This is just one example of old familiarity and reexperience.