India Pictures
These are images from my very recent trip to India. I departed the States on the 9th of May, just after final exams and I returned home on the 14th of June. I had almost five weeks of vacation. I must say that I enjoyed my stay in India. Life in India can prove both frustrating and refreshing. India is a great place to go because it offers a change from the hustle-bustle life of the west. It's great to live in small town India, to be able to walk into anyones house without calling in advance. The way people always bring you water and offer you tea, even if you barely know them. This close, open-door policy is something that we need to learn about in the west. We rely too much on non-personal modes for communication which just forces society to become more and more fragmented.
I've also noticed that people are much more friendly as well. People are always willing to offer directions when asked (even if the directions may be incorrect) and people don't mind being physically close. In a country of 1 billion people, you really need to learn how to be polite and friendly with total strangers. If you aren't, you won't be able to live.
Anyway, I'm not trying to bore anyone. Below you'll find photos of various relatives who reside in India. Although I'm Gujarati, the majority of my family resides in a small town within the Nasik District of Maharashtra. It's about five hours E/NE from Bombay if you travel by train.
Enjoy!!
From left to right, you'll see my much beloved baby cousin sister, me, two of my mamis, and my masi. Mother and daughter are sitting at opposite ends. My mother and my cousin sister's mother are sisters.
This is a really nice close-up of my cousin sister and my mami. They are not mother/daughter even though it looks very well like they could be. The lady at the right is this cousin's mami. The two of them are best buds.
The same mami with her daughter of almost five years.
Another of mother and daughter, but not the last.
One more of the mother and daughter. You might have guessed that this mami is one of my favorites. She's really great. She calls me Gandhiji because of my walking style - fast and unaffected by climates of any kind.
Various cousins along with a Californian who I met for the first time at the Bombay airport (Sahar). He was on the same flight as me from Frankfurt and he was looking for some places near Bombay to see. I took him with me to my mom's town (five hours by train) and from there we tried to see the Ellora caves near Aurungabad. Unfortunately the attraction was closed the day we went. We had to settle for the nearby Dalautabad Fort.
My new Californian friend along with my second (in relation) mami and her two sons. Second mami in the sense that she is my maternal grandfather's brother's son's wife.
Another glimpse of some of my cousins. This shot was taken during an outing to the town resevoir. Nothing beats getting wet on a hot summer day in India. Just don't drink the water!
More of my cousins. All of them are up to no good.
One of my younger cousin sisters. This cousin is my eldest mama's daughter. She's a real chipmunk. She's really funny because she's really into dancing and singing.
One of my cousin sisters (near above cousin's elder sister) was responsible for this beautiful job. It was done on a second cousins hand. You can see a peacock and some tublas in there.
The ancient practice of eating on the floor. As you can see, it was the women's turn for eating.
One last picture.
