Time in India was the biggest culture shock for me. It's funny how it seems to be many a woman's mecca journey for soul satiation and self discovery. I met her in a time where she was in the middle of such an excursion. It had been awhile since my last trip and as wanderlustful I had been at times, I was in a different place so it took me a bit to warm up to new adventure. India was an eye opening experience due to how vast the land is yet how dense the population is at the same time.
New Delhi was a clusterfuck of pollution and intrusion as personal space was limited far greater than anything I had seen in New York. We stayed mostly in the backpacker's district where streets were unkempt and everyone thought she was Japanese in an effort to relate, when in reality it festered a quiet resentment towards ignorance.
I found beauty outside the confines of the capital which most of these pictures encapsulate. My favorite place being a spot called Hampi which lay in the south. A boulderer's paradise, it reminded me of Pride Rock from the Lion King. The area we stayed required crossing a river by a single boat which ran infrequent. Visitors and locals alike would pile into a small boat and be ushered across to the other side though a few adventuresome folk would dare to cross the river via stepping stones that were sparse and unmarked. More than likely you would be submerged into the water if you went this route.
We spent most of the day fighting the scorching heat via renting a motorbike and weaving through the city. She held tight behind me as I worked my way through the dirt roads and aqueducts. We drank masala chai looking over pride rock as the sun set across the horizon. We found a tipi large enough to hold 30 backpackers under its shelter and was encouraged. The nights were spent mostly at the hippie cafe that would serve Western food with island drinks over conversations about life inside and outside the present. The population was so small and the people were trusting. You could leave and come back to pay if you forgot your money. You could pay the next day. Money was negligible and karma was currency. I became fascinated with the energy of the bar. Music would be the type found in a downtempo Eastern European bar. I conversed with a Swedish furniture maker about his life living on a docked boat and his aspirations of becoming a dj with his ipad. We bonded over the sample Warren G. used on "Regulate."
The simple life experienced here was humbling. Life was lived simply with nothing more and nothing less. They were driven to be happy, and no other motivator was needed. Not money. Not power. Not fame. Life was simply being present with the moment.
New Delhi was a clusterfuck of pollution and intrusion as personal space was limited far greater than anything I had seen in New York. We stayed mostly in the backpacker's district where streets were unkempt and everyone thought she was Japanese in an effort to relate, when in reality it festered a quiet resentment towards ignorance.
I found beauty outside the confines of the capital which most of these pictures encapsulate. My favorite place being a spot called Hampi which lay in the south. A boulderer's paradise, it reminded me of Pride Rock from the Lion King. The area we stayed required crossing a river by a single boat which ran infrequent. Visitors and locals alike would pile into a small boat and be ushered across to the other side though a few adventuresome folk would dare to cross the river via stepping stones that were sparse and unmarked. More than likely you would be submerged into the water if you went this route.
We spent most of the day fighting the scorching heat via renting a motorbike and weaving through the city. She held tight behind me as I worked my way through the dirt roads and aqueducts. We drank masala chai looking over pride rock as the sun set across the horizon. We found a tipi large enough to hold 30 backpackers under its shelter and was encouraged. The nights were spent mostly at the hippie cafe that would serve Western food with island drinks over conversations about life inside and outside the present. The population was so small and the people were trusting. You could leave and come back to pay if you forgot your money. You could pay the next day. Money was negligible and karma was currency. I became fascinated with the energy of the bar. Music would be the type found in a downtempo Eastern European bar. I conversed with a Swedish furniture maker about his life living on a docked boat and his aspirations of becoming a dj with his ipad. We bonded over the sample Warren G. used on "Regulate."
The simple life experienced here was humbling. Life was lived simply with nothing more and nothing less. They were driven to be happy, and no other motivator was needed. Not money. Not power. Not fame. Life was simply being present with the moment.
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