back in the US

Hi all,

I'm back from India. I'm currently in Sacramento, so I still have some travelling to do before I'm totally ensconced and hooked up to the internet on a full-time basis.

I will be catching everything up, don't worry. The worst case scenario is that it will have to wait until I'm in Tucson, in which case it'll be next week.

Paonta Sahib photos

Paonta Sahib is located near where the Yamuna River comes out of the Himalayas and onto the plains. It's a pilgrimage site, and the Gurdwara there is well-known and well-visited. Here are some photos:

India Xmas

Merry Christmas!

There are signs of the holiday here, but they are nothing compared to the big buildup in the US. Which makes it a lot nicer, actually. I am more inclined to feel Christmas-y without it being shoved down my throat everywhere I turn.

Christmas Eve update

Hi all and happy holidays. I am back from Rishikesh and in Chandigarh once again. I had plans to go to Delhi, but once again I experience the futility of planning things here, as Jessie wants to go to Dharamsala and I will probably follow him there.

Dharamsala is the site of the Tibetan government in exile. It's more or less where the Dalai Lama is these days, and it's THE place in India to find out about all things Tibetan. I won't be working on river stuff there, but I would have the opportunity to find out about Tibetan art and environmental attitudes, so it could definitely be worthwhile.

I really should go to Kolkata (Calcutta) both for the Ganga river and the contemporary art scene, but that may be for another time.

I realize that I haven't talked much about my actual project -- this blog has kind of turned into a catchall fro my travel notes and photos, so I'll try to remedy that. I have some posts to make about le Corbusier, the rock garden, river mythos in India, and several other things, and I've been procrastinating. So I promise to address thoe things after the holiday. Also, I have many pictures I need to post, and that will be happening in a few days as well.

Rishikesh

I'm in Rishikesh now, a bit by accident. I've been trying to get to Yamnotri, the source of the Yamuna River, with no luck. Normally, in summer, there are tone of busses there, on account of it being part of the Char Dam and a holy pilgrimage site. But it's the off season.

Rishikesh is on the baks of the Ganges, and is the purported Yoga capital of the world. There are more westerners (and east Asian) tourists than I've seen anywhere else, but there are a lot of Indian tourists as well. It's a religious town, full of pilgrims, temples, and ashrams. I may stay here for a while and try to learn about people's relationship with the Ganga. I'm staying in an ashram. It's something else, I tell you.

at the Satyadeep Hotel

I'm staying in Chandigarh for the next few days so I can finish up some class projects and stuff. The house got way too crowded for me to do any work, so I had to move into a hotel. This is an eye-opener for me because it lets me see an entirely new Chandigarh. The hotel is pretty nice; a bit more expensive than I'd like, but it has all the amenities and is clean. And I'm in a different part of town; it's more upscale here. I found a pub down the street that offers free wifi, so I'm going to try that out tomorrow.

Sorry about the poor quality of the drawing photos. I've been having a hard time setting up for taking pictures. I'll try to replace them with better photos when I get a chance.

This is just to say
that I'll be around Chandigarh for
a few days,
and then I'll travel
up the Yamuna River to Yamnotri,
so cold and delicious.

So I will be out of contact for a while when I leave.