Hampi was a city of Ancient ruins, banana groves, holy ghats, massive
granite quarries and utter confusion. Upon arrival we heard murmurs
of the President’s plan to come to town to visit the holy temples and
pilgrimage sites. Our rickshaw driver, a pushy little man with orange
henna hair forewarned us that due to her visit security would shut
down the boat that would take us from the city to our hotel across the
river. Feeling like seasoned travelers at this point, we chalked it up
to be a ploy to make us stay on,”his side of the water” where he
promised a room in his friend’s hostel and far fewer,”drunk Israelis
who like to punch each other.” Read the rest of this entry »

Having decided to go ahead with my scheduled weaving course despite Emily and Cassidy’s decision to continue moving South, I began to experience that familiar old feeling of social anxiety I associate with the night before the first day of summer camp, middle school, high-school, college and every single new job.

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[an incomplete post]

Museums are (in my professional opinion, since their first emergence in the 17^th century up to this day in the 21^st) important tools in the nation-building project. They have long been instruments of the state intended to unite various historical narratives under a singular appellation, identity and destiny. It is no surprise then, that in a still developing nation such as India, the various museums that populate the country are an interesting insight into the nature of this country’s self image, aspirations and struggling development in this world.

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No one makes movies about travelling through India by bus.

Trains, although faster and generally more comfortable (aside from that 10 hour trip in sleeper class with chilling winds and two rattling windows which refused to close, even with my socks and t-shirts jammed in the sill), don’t go everywhere you might want to go and, more to the point, require at least a couple days of planning in order to secure a reservation. We, being fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants travellers who prefer the out-of-the-way spots, have only been able to arrange convenient rail travel a couple times. Instead, it is through the bus window which we have watched the Indian countryside pass.

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