Hey, look at me. I'm blogging from my laptop harbor side in Mumbai. I splurged big time and bought a mobile modem so I can connect anywhere there is mobile phone reception, anytime. Its a bit over the top but I felt like treating myself and how cool is this. Its the FUTURE! Invest in this stock, especially for the third world where wires are expensive. In a fit of blissful digital mastery I took two of these photos minutes ago to to beam them to your screens and note the spot from where I am blogging. ZAPP!
India is a place that takes a long time to describe. There is heaps of stuff to mention. One of my favorite attempts at a description is simply to call it weird because there is just so much randomness going on. One street in a given town will have several marble temples dripping with fresh chrysanthemums, a walk in well turned turtle shrine, piles of garbage, a juice man, children flying kites, beggars, business suits, and a veg restaurant, beauty salon, or fabric store along with the ubiquitous chanting and bells parade. After family time in Jaipur (in spite of my taking the piss out of them they really are a fabulously functional and fun family) I jumped down to Araungabad with Scott to check out some ancient history at the caves of Elora and Ajanta.
The Elora caves are a mere 1000 years old and hand chiseled from volcanic rock. Of the 30+ caves, Jain, Buddhist, and Hindi temples are represented, the Shiva temple being the largest monolithic carving in the world! Wahoo! People really did stuff that long ago even without the internet. Larger than life ball reliefs everywhere told amazing stories of celestial creation and hella' god drama like weddings, card games, war... You name it, Shiva and his friends did it. Brilliant people they were planning ahead a thousand years to provide their ancestors a source of tourist income.
The Ajanta caves win the age contest at over 2000 years old. These are all Buddhist and are set half way up a horseshoe cliff cut by the river below. Amazingly, delicious colorful paintings of daily life and spiritual matters survive on the walls and ceilings throughout. It was too much to take in during my day trip but I could begin imagine the fabulousness of spending weeks, years, a lifetime meditating there next to your very own massive stone Buddha chillin' in teaching pose, cross legged with thumb and forefinger pinching the opposite pinkie. Id probably just do a week.
Scott and I also poked around nearby Dalautabad, an epic castle starting from 1100 AD with layers of walls, motes, sheer cliffs and labyrinths to protect the palace, temples, shrines, and giant red falice. The locals are very proud of their creation, naming it the best fortified castle in all of India and the first to use psychological strategies i.e. darkness and false doors. How clever. Again, people were serious about making stuff happen way back in the day. Thanks for dragging me along Scott. It was a supreme week of sightseeing.
Now I'm in Mumbai. Ill have to write about it soon so stay tunned. In the mean time, check this out. Stuff White People like #120. I have been nailed. Whats the use of privilege if you dont use it anyways? And my backpack only costs $4 so ha.
1 comment:
Nice pictures !
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