I’ve attached a year to this post because the fact is, this enigmatic country will continue to be an aesthetic feature in this blog going forward, hence the need to confine this update as discoveries of 2014. By this time I had already experienced India to some extent, having lived in Delhi for almost a year and having visited bits and pieces of Rajasthan and Calcutta. Still, with India every state is almost like a new country and every visit to the same place brings brand new realisations. The following snaps are of our stay in Mumbai, Dehradun, Pune and Lonavla.
Local barber as we made our way to a dear friend’s wedding in DehradunA stunning day – can never forget the clear blue skies that came as a gift from a previous day of rain. Indian weddings are the absolute best!
The street mosque, as I understand it… it’s constructed literally in the middle of the road… you have to drive around it to get to the end of the road… Apparently a favourite with the locals… queues begin at 5 amLocal municipal building.. Victorian architecture as a testament to the four hundred years of colonisation…Rhythm House – perhaps London’s answer to HMV… so sad that it closed down a few years ago… Traffic chaos in MumbaiAnd the sky scraping ambitions begins… The nostalgia of Bombay back streets..It feels somehow like London in the 70s
Camden Town or Mumbai market?Taj Hotel… love this part of Mumbai...Victoria Station (the first time it hit me that Mumbai architecture was nothing like Delhi) That juxtaposition of dilapidation and statelyMarine Bay.. a place for couples evidently…At a Kala Goda festivalMy peculiar window fetish creeping up again… I vividly remember walking down the stairs and being so enchanted by these nostalgic windows
Black yellow Mumbai cabs…
The defining man of peaceful revolutionRang BiryaniDelhi Durbar’s tandoori
Coffee and Ice cream sandwich at Indigo’sAhh. the tasty Tasting Room of Goodearth… where I can spend hours writing on the laptop, listening to an atmospheric playlist and taking stock of life
Final Words
India is incredible. I haven’t even begun to fully understand her and I doubt anyone has. It’s one of those countries where you get a neck ache from constant gawking at the cacophony of humanity and can’t stop wanting to photograph everything you see be it about human behaviour (my lasting memory is of an entire family with pet dog perched on one moped as they coursed through Mumbai traffic) or just the mammoth diversity of architecture and natural beauty. I can honestly say that I always leave every trip with a hunger for more. It is a place that clenches you fully: eyes, heart, soul, stomach (also literally), feet and stimulates your senses. Looking forward for the next jump into this hypnotic twilight zone.
Looking for The Higher Self 