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Animals: Real and Cake
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Arts in Chennai
After a brief flight, we arrived in Chennai and noticed a marked difference in landscape and an increase in the heat! As we disembarked from the bus we were greeted with shell necklaces and lime water to wash away the stress of the day. After depositing our luggage, we were quickly swept away to Dakshina…
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Living stone
This morning we visited a series of stone temples along the coast at Mahabalipuram with a world-class expert on temple architecture and Hindu history. While others will write about the cultural and artistic things we learned, I can’t, of course, resist talking about the wonderful rock itself. These ancient structures are made of the local…
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Flight over India
As the Kingfisher jet pushed its way up through the humid, gray air of Delhi, we watched the colorful streets of the city fade and the vast north Indian plain open below us. The flight south to Chennai was a chance to see India from yet another perspective. The mark of humanity on the land…
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India—Place of Contrasts
The cities are richly textured. I love the eclectic mix of sights, smells, and sounds – spices and pots for sale in a traditional market next to high end retail, auto rickshaws in front of a pathology lab, cows wandering the streets, the sounds of horns in Delhi at night.
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Mughal Stonework
The highlight of visiting the abandoned Mughal capitol Fatehpur Sikri near Delhi was the chance to look closely at the extraordinary stonework produced by 16th century artisans. The city is built entirely of a red sandstone (well, technically a coarse siltstone, a name my students would insist upon) of two varieties. The first is a…
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On Food
I have been meaning to write about each meal during this trip, but have not been able to do that. Instead, I am writing a cumulative entry for the past eight days or so. We have had some fabulous meals and in some very unexpected places. Meals at some modest restaurants have been great! I…
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Visit with JNU History Faculty
Talking with new colleagues [Clicking on the title above will bring up a clip of our mingled group.] Meeting with the History Faculty at JNU We’ve been so busy – and stimulated by a barrage of new experiences – over the past week that it has been hard to find time to reflect on what…
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Reflections While Touring
We’re all a bit punch-drunk from a long bus ride, but I thought I should add a brief word. We’ll be traveling tomorrow to Chennai. We’ve spent the last couple of days as true tourists, driving southeast from Delhi to Agra through an early and unexpected rain to visit the Taj Mahal, the marble mausoleum…
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Down the Mountain from Devprayag
Our driver during the Haridwar visit was extraordinarily skilled, and the clips below show why we came to trust him. The road back down the mountain from Devprayag seemed to us extremely challenging. Driving in India, like driving anywhere, involves a complex language of negotiation. In passing, one sounds one’s horn and, if the other…
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Train
On Sunday at about 6:00 AM, we arrived at the Delhi Train Station. It reminded me of similar stations in Russia. Villagers coming in from the countryside, small time traders with bundles of goods, transients looking for a place to sleep, porters with large carts and vendors hawking provisions. In spite of the crowd, people…
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Delhi Traffic
From a bicycle rickshaw perspective. Click on title below left to see video. Delhi Traffic