A Look Back to India

 I just finished up a month long, online Lightroom class, where I learned some great new things (even after using it for several years.) On the second week we needed some photos for adjustments. I decided to dig back into my photo archives to some photos I took when I lived in India. This was before I got interested in photography, didn't know what a dslr or Lightroom was.

I had a basic point and shoot camera that fit in my pocket and no idea how to use it. I thought it would be interesting to see what I could do with some of these photos and Lightroom. 

Looking back I realize that my first 6 months in India in 2008, was what sparked my desire to learn more about photography. India was so colorful, and different from everything I'd experienced to that point in my life. Just being there made me want to find a way to capture the experiences I was having and the things I was seeing.

"My age has never made me wise, but I keep pushing on and on and on."
Imagine Dragons - Nothing Left to Say

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Contradiction

I've struggled now for 5 weeks to explain what it is like here in Delhi. But last night I think I stumbled upon something that works. At advice of a friend I've been reading "Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure" written by an Australian woman about her time here. The book itself is hilarious, but even more so if you are going through similar culture shocks as you are reading it.

I believe she defined India better than I will every be able to:

India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes. India defies understanding, and for once, for me, that's okay.

She continues, and in a short paragraph brilliantly expresses how I feel after my experiences not just here, but after the last couple of years living abroad:

In Australia, in my small pocket of my own isolated country, I felt like I understood my world and myself, but now, I'm actually embracing not knowing and I'm questioning much of what I thought I did know. I kind of like being confused, wrestling with contradictions, and not having to wrap up issues in a minute before a commercial break. While the journalist in me is still curious about the world, I'm still not really missing the way my old job confined my perceptions of life. My confinement here is different - I'm trapped by heat and by a never-ending series of juxtapositions. India is in some ways like a fun house hall of mirrors where I can see both sides of each contradiction sharply and there's no easy escape to understanding.

I hope as my adventures continue that I will continue to question who I am and my purpose and place in the world. I believe that constant re-examination will help me become a better human. Pin It

Colors

Happy Holi!

While for me this weekend is Easter (Happy Easter everyone) for the people in India this weekend is Holi, a festival to celebrate the coming of spring. Holi is celebrated most visibly through colored powder or water which is thrown at or rubbed on anyone you meet. When I started to see the bags of colored powder show up in the stores, I thought it must be dye for easter eggs, momentarily forgetting that most people here wouldn't celebrate Easter. I finally got the entire scoop on the holiday when I was warned by a local co-worker to stay in Friday afternoon/evening and the rest of the weekend as the kids and young at heart love Holi-ing naive foreigners.

I didn't know if I'd get to experience the holiday as boss arrived yesterday along with his wife, and I assumed it would be a mostly working weekend. Luckily they were up for at least risking a walk outside to see what we'd find. We all put old or dark clothes on and agreed to meet at a local coffee shop. I headed out and soon was surrounded by 8 teenage boys who left me quite green (and felt up by one of them - they were a bit high as one of the main Holi treats/drinks has a cannabis like herb in it) luckily I wasn't left with a strategic handprint, but he did try. I arrived at the coffee shop to see my boss and his wife much more colorful than me, turns out they'd stumbled into a local who took them to the neighborhood celebration. Once L, the last co-worker in town joined us (still color free, how he did that I'll never know) we set off for the celebration. It reminded me a bit of a fourth of July BBQ, but with people who were a lot happier/crazy/stoned than you would see in good old Aurora. L finally got a bit of color, we enjoyed a drink (just diet coke for me, mom, I swear) and watched the celebration for awhile.

After the party we grabbed lunch (at a new Indian place I hadn't tried yet - yum!) Then headed home, we nearly made it home safely, but a car full of crazy teenagers drove by and EGGED my bosses wife! They somehow missed me thankfully.

Now I'm home trying to clean up - but from the looks of things, I'm going to be a bit green around the edges for a few days. Here are a few photos so you can share in the adventure:

L finally got some color!

I've spent the entire day with the perfect song in my head, Cyndi Lauper's True Colors, while I love the more recent Eva Cassidy cover, the original is hard to beat.

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Indian Dispatches

After over 40 hours of travel I finally arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday. I feel like it's been work, work, work, rush, rush, rush the entire time I've been here. I haven't even had a chance to take a photo, but maybe tomorrow.

I haven't found the words to describe this place (what little of it I've seen) it's so different, and yet so similar to all I've know. You walk into a grocery store and while it is the size of a large hallway you can find many of the products I am used to buying in the US (disposable clorox wipes, Skippy Peanut Butter, etc.) The tiny size means the things are stacked from floor to ceiling and it feels like there are more people working than there are shopping. There are no carts or baskets, instead a worker follows you around collecting your selections. An interesting way to shop.

We spent a few hours today at a market, where traditional stores, drug stores, grocery stores and tailors are mixed in with the occasional Body Shop or Benetton. Khan Market is near the embassy district, so they are at least use to seeing foreigners and we didn't get as many looks as usual. Even after spending the last couple of years in Rio, I can tell me time here will be a real eye opener, it just doesn't compare to any thing else I've experienced.

There is a part in front of our apartment and I've been trying to get up and walk each morning, one morning this week my iPod seemed to be in a country kind of mood. While the country music seemed a bit out of place in the middle of India, as usual the music seems to just fit my life.

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Tift Merritt - Another Country

Falling is like brand new rain,
Places I have never been,
I thought these things would come to me.
Love is another country, and I want to go

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the Last Weekend

The last weekend at home for 3 months left me a little excited about my upcoming adventure in India, a bit sad to say good-bye to my parents and little dog Sadie and nervous about my ability to survive and keep a positive attitude in Delhi. The more I worry, the more I find myself reflecting on a song from LeAnn Rimes and telling myself to focus on the things I can control and learn to accept those things I can't. I know how blessed I am, I have a supportive family who loves me and encourages me to live my dreams; I know who I am and why I'm here on earth and for the most part I love the life I've been given, the rest I'm just going to have to work out on the journey.

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What I Cannot Change

I know what makes me comfortable
And I know what makes me tick
And I when I need to get my way
I know how to pour it on thick
Cream and sugar in my coffee
Right away when I awake
I face the day, and pray to God
I won’t make the same mistakes

All the rest is out of my hands
I will learn to let go what I cannot change
I will learn to forgive what I cannot change
I will learn to love what I cannot change
But I will change, yeah I will change
Whatever I, whenever I can

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The pain is self-inflicted
I know it’s not good for my health
But it’s easier to please the world
Then it is to please myself

All the rest is out of my hands
I will learn to let go what I cannot change
I will learn to forgive what I cannot change
I will learn to love what I cannot change
But I will change, yeah I will change
Whatever I, whenever I can

Well I know I can’t care about how everyone else really feels
I have enough hurt of my own to heal

I will learn to let go what I cannot change
I will learn to forgive what I cannot change
I will learn to let go what I cannot change
I will learn to forgive what I cannot change
I will learn to love what I cannot change
But I will change, yeah I will change
Whatever I, whenever I can

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