Dialects
New Delhi 11:30 p.m., Thor’s day It’s so easy and natural, it happens in a blur of acclimation. My language goes local to make easier my communications with people with often limited or unconventional approaches to English comp. Sara’s been noticing it in our phone conversations. Perfect example tonight speaking with Kamal here at Abracadabra: Me: Kamal…
Grinding On
New Delhi 11 a.m. Can’t say these have been the most inspiring of days. (Though there’s been a few moments.) I quasi-tweaked my back in Jaipur—just one of those funny movements where I felt a sheath of muscle in my mid/upper back suddenly tense and contract and serve notice that any more bad moves would likely…
Au Revoir, Rajasthan. Bon Soir, Delhi!
Meherangarh Fort
Jodhpur Rajasthan (late-posted, and with no photos, due to India interwebs issues: haven’t been able to upload pics for almost a week, from multiple venues, sigh.) I’m not the biggest old fort guy, I guess, but Jodhpur’s Meherangarah Fort had some fairly spectacular elements to it. Some photos [not] here. Oddly enough, I was even…
Escape from Sun City
Back in Jaipur Rajasthan, Tuesday 8:45 a.m. (still no photos uploading…) Groggily awakening from the warehouse-cruising stupor of recent days, and recovering from last night’s hair-raising ride down what passes for the Jodhpur-Jaipur highway. I’ve generally appreciated my driver Ram’s acumen behind the wheel, and yesterday’s 5:30 p.m. departure started well—making good time, safely. But come…
Dhrupad Festival of Classical Indian Music
Jaipur Rajasthan Wednesday 2:05 p.m. At last night’s Dhrupad Festival of classical Indian music, I was blessed to hear some outstanding pakhawaj drumming by two excellent players: Mohan Sharma (the teacher of my friends Vasant and Tulsi), and Devaki Nandan, a man Shyamdas described as possibly the finest pakhawaj player in all of India (which is…
I heard the news today. Oh, boy.
Sunday 1 a.m. Fires in Jodhpur. The other day I posted a photo of a cow ambling through the Sardar Market in Jodhpur; 2 days later a fire raged through that old market and destroyed 40—50 market stalls—a good portion of the area. Also, same day another fire destroyed at least one old furniture warehouse;…