It's time to get back blogging. Since my last
blogs from India I've covered a great deal of territory, seen some amazing
things, and, fortunately, I've had a fine time doing it. There are certainly
downsides to the traveling life and living abroad, but on the whole, it
continues to prove a worthwhile experience.
I took this photo from our hotel room window here in Calicut. If you've seen the Merchant-Ivory film production of Forster's novel, A Room with a View, you'll understand the need for my apology. A beautiful view this is not. But it is a typical view.
From this photo taken from our hotel room (located on the main road in the city), you see a vacant lot, motorcycles under a tent, litter and trash spread all around, an unfinished building (right side), junk here and there, and shops. India has lots and lots of shops. Sometimes I think of India (in my more downbeat moments) as hundreds of millions of people (one billion & some change), millions of motorcycles, and millions of shops. (Some visible on the far side of the photo.)
Right now, as I look out the window, I see two police officers peeing onto a fence. Usually it's a wall, but sometimes you have to make do.
Now I must make my India disclaimer: anything I observe or state about India can be contradicted by evidence that usually appears within a stone's throw. Our hotel, for instance, is good enough, and the food is well prepared and tasty. Some of India consists of modern malls with nice restrooms. India is everything at once, huge and diverse in ways that are still hard to grasp with more than a year here.
So, it's one room with one view. And there are a billion more.
I took this photo from our hotel room window here in Calicut. If you've seen the Merchant-Ivory film production of Forster's novel, A Room with a View, you'll understand the need for my apology. A beautiful view this is not. But it is a typical view.
From this photo taken from our hotel room (located on the main road in the city), you see a vacant lot, motorcycles under a tent, litter and trash spread all around, an unfinished building (right side), junk here and there, and shops. India has lots and lots of shops. Sometimes I think of India (in my more downbeat moments) as hundreds of millions of people (one billion & some change), millions of motorcycles, and millions of shops. (Some visible on the far side of the photo.)
Right now, as I look out the window, I see two police officers peeing onto a fence. Usually it's a wall, but sometimes you have to make do.
Now I must make my India disclaimer: anything I observe or state about India can be contradicted by evidence that usually appears within a stone's throw. Our hotel, for instance, is good enough, and the food is well prepared and tasty. Some of India consists of modern malls with nice restrooms. India is everything at once, huge and diverse in ways that are still hard to grasp with more than a year here.
So, it's one room with one view. And there are a billion more.
