Dusshera in Udaipur

A low drumbeat seeped into my room, a subtle heartbeat of the city invading my sleep, welcoming me to a new beginning, imploring me to take advantage of what the day will offer. So I slowly got up, taking my time to enjoy the fact I was on vacation and made my way up to the roof top terrace of the hotel. Where better to take breakfast then with a view over the lake, sparkling as the sun touched it after rising past the buildings, reflections of windows and the exclusive white palace floating in the middle adding an extra dimension. I could have sat there for hours appreciating the sight, but there was more that Udaipur had to offer. After enjoying a stuffed parantha and a cheese omelette I headed out to the streets. Despite the drumming that woke me Udaipur doesn't move very fast in the morning; as we walked the road to the City Palace vendors were just starting to open up shop; making sure that their wares were beautifully displayed, a riot of leather, glass and color. We had to pause for a stop under the sparkling tinsel canopy to climb the stairs up to Jagdish temple, rising above the city streets in the heart of the old city. Remove our shoes and then wander around the intricately carved temple. Layers of designs covering the facade of the building that towered above. Elephants here then a level of horses, people farther up, some flower designs; on and on it stretched, no inch left unadorned. Then back down to the street to continue on to the City Palace, a twisting turning maze of rooms that it takes a couple of hours to wind through. A trip that takes you past a variety of rooms and colors, amazing windows, carved details and open spaces. 

No visit to Udaipur is complete without a boat ride around the lake. A twenty minute journey where you can't decide it you want to look towards the shore and the old constructions that line the water's edge or if you'd rather stare at the smattering of constructions that seem to have been built on nothing in the water, conveying a mixed sense of floating and sinking. Did I want the faded light of sunset or the clarity a day trip would bring? Rather than trying to make that decision I settled on both. Each time I completed a circuit I noticed new things, took a few more pictures, and appreciated this special piece of Udaipur a little bit more. So much so that I decided I needed to get a birds eye view of the lake, and so went off to experience a very Indian segment of Udaipur's tourist offerings: the rope way - a cable car/gondola trip up the hillside that offered views over the city in every direction. The string of lakes making it clear just how different Udaipur is from other cities in India.

Word portrait: bicycle passenger

Young man with your curls gelled into place over your forehead; 

Rocking out to the music from your phone as you hitch a ride from a friend,

Perched on the luggage rack of his bicycle

Your flip flop shod feet centimeters from dragging on the ground

As the light changes, away you go

To some place I can't even imagine

Mini escape

There is no denying that I live in a big city, although I must admit that Delhi is a lot greener than I expected before I arrived. After a few weeks back though I'm always reminded that I grew up (sort of) in the country. At least with a lot of green space around me and with a ton of time spent outdoors. I start to miss it....a lot. Luckily for me I have a mini escape just two blocks from my house. The Aravalli Biodiversity Park is a reclaimed space that used to be mined for morrum and clay. A fact that is still obvious when you look past the edge of the main trail to find a variety of pits cut into this spur of the Aravalli mountain range. I stick to the main path, approximately a three mile round trip, which takes me along a red dirt path, past fields, a set of greenhouses and a couple of small Hindu shrines. The way is well delineated with both stick and wire fences, the occasional over sized wooden gates letting you know you shouldn't follow that fascinating looking side path. One of my favorite things about walking or running the path is that abundance of bird life, and my particular favorite - peacocks. I don't think that I've ever gone out without chasing a peacock for at least a short way down the path. Today I was pleased (but not quick enough with the camera) when some dogs surprised a group of them out of the bushes and they came flying overhead. Of course you can't ever forget that you are still in the city, and if by chance you had, the planes flying low overhead or the glimpse of an informal settlement off to one side will quickly remind you that this is really just a mini escape. But then my attention is captured again and I have to wonder why is there a pile of old bricks in the middle of the path? What is the point of the old rail road ties that they planted upright on the side? How do you just lose a sole?

American snapshot: Road trip

One of my favorite things about taking off with my mom during summer vacation for a road trip is her willingness to stop at all the random odd sights that I've dug up while researching our route. Often these little breaks end up being the highlight of our trip, which can only be the case when I am with someone who is willing to humor my sense of the absurd and doesn't sigh too much when we only make it a couple of hundred miles in a day (instead of a more normal 600 or so when we are actually trying to get somewhere). Together we're discovering that the journey is definitely part of the fun. A brief highlight of some of my favorites from this summer (thanks in good part to my go to guide: Roadside America "Your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions"):

There was the skeleton boy leading a skeleton dinosaur
somewhere off of I-90 in South Dakota

The graffiti art alley in Rapid City, South Dakota
"My people will sleep for 100 years and when they wake 
it will be the artists who give them back their spirit."

Where we also stopped at a Storybook Island,
the children's section of the city park which had fabulous photo opportunities
with over sized cartoon and movie characters.

A giant spider made out of a VW bug in a field of Lexington, Oklahoma

Oversized metal water lilies in Riverside Park in Wichita, Kansas

Which also had a troll hidden under a grate on one of the sidewalks by the river

The world's largest ball of Sisal Twine in Cawker City, Kansas

Where we also walked the twine trail (no matter how many times we tried to say this out loud it always came out as the twine twail...) which took us by store fronts containing replicas of art masterpieces with a addition of a ball of twine somewhere in the painting.

And my favorite roadside stop of the trip: Carhenge (Alliance, Nebraska)

With stops like these, who cares what the purpose of the trip was?

Thoughts from a walk

Shuffling down the path

in your repaired flip-flops

rifle slung over your shoulder,

I wonder what your story is.

What lead you to this path,

the coincidence of two individuals

crossing amidst fields and rocks?

What is our common bond,

our one irrefutable truth

that in some way ties us together

for a moment

until we continue on

in different directions

down the same path

Walking around the Qutb Minar

A few weeks ago I realized I was at my last free weekend before volleyball started. Despite limping around with a cast on my foot I was determined to take advantage of time that would soon be in short supply. So I decided to take a trip to one of the main sites in Delhi which, despite it being the beginning of my third year, I had never visited...the Qutb Minar. On a bustling street corner, after crossing the road three times (turns out the ticket office is on the opposite side of the road from the monument itself) we entered into a green space whose main focus had my neck cricked back so I could stare into the sky. This sandstone column rises 72.5 meters (238 feet) into the air and is the highest stone tower in India. It was constructed as a huge minaret in the courtyard of the Quwwatu'l-Islam mosque which dates from 1198 and was pieced together using fragments of demolished Hindu temples giving an unusual design of stone work in a mosque. The Qutb Minar itself was begun in 1202 and continued to be added on to and renovated until 1503. In addition to this massive tower and the remains of the mosque there are numerous tombs on the grounds, a madrasa, an unusual iron pillar with a Sanskrit inscription (which may attribute its pristine state in part to being regularly covered in ghee in its past), and the rubble of the beginnings of a second enormous minaret which never got very far off the ground.

Word portrait: Taxi driver

My Sikh taxi driver yesterday sat comfortably chatting with me in his car. A twinkle in is eye, made me feel as if he really enjoyed my business. His light gray turban contrasted nicely with a darker gray pants suit. As we got stuck in traffic I noticed him looking in the rear view mirror. A glance back at traffic, we weren't going anywhere, and then back to the mirror. Clearly this was a prime opportunity to work on his grooming, pulling and twisting on his mustache until he was satisfied that the upward curl was at just the right angle, the tips in line with base of his nose. With a satisfied nod his attention went back to the traffic and I was left feeling a little like a voyeur.