Dropped into Chaos-India!

I arrived in the middle of the night, after 18 hours of travel into the midst of the thickest fog I have ever experienced—the very last thing I would have expected but which established the parameters for everything awaiting me. Fog so dense that once leaving the Arrival Hall at the New Delhi airport all I could make out were the dreamlike shapes of hordes of drivers seeking their intended passengers as I heard and felt for the first time, the noise and energy that is India. Felt is the operative word. The fog may have obscured my view, but nothing could mask the swirl and sound of a country which has a billion people living in it; where they have 18 different languages and over 300 dialects; where Urdu is spoken and Sanskrit is still written. A country that overwhelms and intrigues, frustrates and endears itself to you all I was soon to learn, at the same time. A place where everything seems like a crumbling five and dime store turned upside down on itself only to reveal gorgeous palaces, high rises and extraordinary culture. A land whose people I found to be as mysterious and elegant and indecipherable as the fog, but also generous and tolerant and openhearted beyond Western understanding. I arrived in the middle of the night and as the fog confused my western sensibilities, the chaos of India seduced me. Here were my first lesson from India: nothing and everything, makes sense; the only guarantee is adventure.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to share my impressions of my travels in India. With each posting here, I will mount additional photographs on the India link to the right. Some things my friends, I learned can only be seen or experienced, and not explained....