{"id":442,"date":"2008-01-08T07:54:05","date_gmt":"2008-01-08T07:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/08\/reflections-of-india\/"},"modified":"2008-01-08T07:54:05","modified_gmt":"2008-01-08T07:54:05","slug":"reflections-of-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/08\/reflections-of-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections of India"},"content":{"rendered":"

I came back this weekend, and as some of you have already noticed, I updated the header on the site with a few images from India.<\/p>\n

I went through my pictures as I usually do after a long trip. I delete the pictures that are out of focus or the worst of a series. After sifting through some 800-odd photos, I sat back and waited. Was that it? A thousand flashbacks of memories in India poured through me that weren’t captured on film. There was no way to capture them. I actually wonder why I had tried. And yet I know that in time the pictures I took will reinforce most of the long-term memories rather than the flashes of specific passionate moments I am reliving now. <\/p>\n

My mind is quite sad at the thought. <\/p>\n

I know I will need to go back to India. Need and want to. The moment we arrived in Italy, with snow on the ground everywhere, S and I both looked at each other and said, “Let’s go back.” From (my) photographer’s point of view, I think I can only record and document what I see when I am able to distance myself emotionally enough from the situation to step back. And I was definitely involved emotionally and physically during the whole trip. The sights, the smells and the eyes of each individual that one might find “photo-worthy” captured me completely in their spell.<\/p>\n

So much to absorb, so much to think about. <\/p>\n

While I didn’t have a typical trip and we were spoiled by our friends and their relatives helping us in doing everything, I didn’t try to ignore the downsides of India. I haven’t taken a trip in quite some time that affected me as emotionally as this one. For every beautiful thing I saw, I saw several others that brought tears to my eyes.<\/p>\n

So I’m depressed.<\/strong> But in a good way. In a life-changing way. I am consoling myself with several Bollywood movies and by sticking my nose every 5 minutes in a bag of spices I brought home on the plane.<\/p>\n

And that’s good news for you. Because what do I do when I get depressed? I eat. And I cook!<\/strong> I’m going to intersperse the India posts with other non-India posts so I can savour it a little more. So let’s get started in 2008! Chalo<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Here are a few pictures from the first portion of our trip. We spent it with one of my best friends and her grandparents in a small village outside Navsari<\/a> (pronounced: NOsahree) in southeast Gujarat (near Surat<\/a>). I spent several days perfecting my Gujarati (Kemcho!) but could only use it on friends and family around us and not in the rest of India. <\/p>\n

In five days, shuttling continously between several small villages, mid-sized towns and beaches and a city of several million, I never saw another non-Indian<\/strong>. Not a single one. It was quite a feeling.<\/p>\n

Here a father and daughter took a break from crossing a bridge to look out on the river. I would love to know what she’s thinking.<\/p>\n

\"Stopping<\/a><\/p>\n

A friend using the red public phone in India. I saw a few of these being carried on the backs of scooters, so apparently they’re mobile, too!<\/p>\n

\"Using<\/a><\/p>\n

The sunset seen from one of our rickshaw rides. The lack of windows (or doors) makes you feel really in the middle of traffic and the crowd, which I loved. I of course liked them best for short rides since they can be quite bumpy and exposed to everything from smells to pollution!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The endless rows of sari shops in the Bombay Market in Surat, Gujarat. We made a short stop here for a few hours. It’s hard to see the selection from the outside, but once you’ve chosen a place, you take off your shoes, go inside to their showroom and sit to see numerous fabrics placed in front of you.<\/p>\n

\"Saree<\/a><\/p>\n

I actually loved the fact that cows were everywhere in India. This one continued walking through the market afterward. I loved how they were so unafraid of any cars or people coming towards them. We actually did see one dead on the side of the road but I’m surprised it wasn’t higher with how they drive (more about that later!)<\/p>\n

\"Cow<\/a><\/p>\n

Near to the village we were in, someone saw a Ganesha \/ Ganesh<\/a>
\nin a tree. Many come to pray now there, and a temple was erected nearby. This is for you, Shelley<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"Ganesha<\/a><\/p>\n

This had to be one of my favorite subjects during the trip. This family was along side our car for several miles in Surat. It was late evening (and much darker than in the picture) so it was hard to get the correct exposure without using the flash, but at least the father was obliging in letting me photograph them and kept coming close to the car. You might not have noticed the wife at first glance – she’s staring intently at me and wasn’t as happy about being photographed. <\/p>\n

\"Family<\/a><\/p>\n

Happy New Year, everyone!!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came back this weekend, and as some of you have already noticed, I updated the header on the site with a few images from India. I went through my pictures as I usually do after a long trip. I delete the pictures that are out of focus or the worst of a series. After…<\/p>\n

Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-india","7":"category-abroad","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uB1-78","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":460,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/31\/gandhi-dandi-beach-and-eating-sugar-cane-in-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":442,"position":0},"title":"Gandhi, Dandi Beach, and Eating Sugar Cane in India","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"January 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday commemorated the 60th anniversary of the death of Gandhi, India's \"Father of the Nation.\" His relatives spread some of his ashes in the bay of Mumbai \/ Bombay, in the same water I saw last month. I mentioned that when I first arrived in India, I was staying in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discovering Food"","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Food","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gandhi Monument - Salt Satyagraha, Dandi Beach, Gujarat India","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2255\/2231717367_2c70f85cf0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":468,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/22\/goa-juhu-beach-new-years-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":442,"position":1},"title":"Juhu Beach, Goa Beach and Beach Food in India","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"February 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"You can read my previous posts about my trip in India: Reflections of India; Desi Chinese, Ice Cream, Dabeli and Other Street Food in India; Mumbai - Bombay : Traffic and Bollywood; An Indian Wedding Ceremony and Feast in India, and Gandhi, Dandi Beach, and Eating Sugar Cane in India.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discovering Food"","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Food","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roasting corn on Juhu Beach, Mumbai-Bombay, India","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2395\/2283446508_ccef8335b3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/22\/an-indian-wedding-ceremony-and-feast-in-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":442,"position":2},"title":"An Indian Wedding Ceremony and Feast in India","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"January 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We went to India to be with good friends, but we were also lucky to be able to be together for a special reason: our friend's wedding. While in India, we also inadvertently crashed another wedding celebration while we there. In my friend's father's village in Gujarat, there was another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discovering Food"","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Food","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wedding feast 2 in India","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2210\/2208149869_8a23eceb55.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2717,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/22\/passports-with-purpose-help-travel-bloggers-build-a-village-in-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":442,"position":3},"title":"Passports with Purpose: Help Travel Bloggers Build a Village in India","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"November 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Part food blogger, part travel blogger, that's hopefully what you've come to expect from my site, Ms. Adventures in Italy. I felt lucky to attend the first ever TBEX, travel blogger conference organized in 2009 in Chicago, and I found some very fascinating travel bloggers to follow as they bounce\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Event"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Event","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/blog-event\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.passportswithpurpose.com\/wp-content\/donate\/2010\/widget.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":444,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/10\/chinese-ice-cream-street-food-in-india\/","url_meta":{"origin":442,"position":4},"title":"Desi Chinese, Ice Cream, Dabeli and Other Street Food in India","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"January 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We were pretty lucky with our experiences eating in India. We didn't experience any of the chronic bowel problems I've heard about, though we invented a new acronym for what we sometimes did experience - SBE - Sudden Bowel Evacuation - which hit every once and a while and afterward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discovering Food"","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Food","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pre-cut Indian Ice Cream","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2117\/2182691530_3a43c830eb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":435,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/11\/marzipan-fruit-and-ischitella-puglia\/","url_meta":{"origin":442,"position":5},"title":"Marzipan Fruit and Ischitella, Puglia","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"December 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Since we're going to India over the Christmas break, we decided to go visit S' family since we have spent the past 3 years with them. This time we made a special trip deep into the National Park Gargano. S' father was born in Ischitella, a small town with less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/italian-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ischitella's main square","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2221\/2102989718_3ba6d68f0e.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}