Sunday, May 10, 2009

India Images






Since I've struggled lately revealing the process going on inside with a meager couple of offerings, I'll just post some pics I have been meaning to share. The priority of the trip was getting video footage, so the still shots I'm posting are, in a way, the leftover or second-thought effort at just trying to capture as much of India's imagery I could to file for later digesting. On day 7 I found it difficult to keep my eyes open. My experience cup had filled to overflowing and I could barely contain what I had already taken in.

I've been back for almost a month and sense I'm in a dangerous place with this part of who I now am. Time for me so quickly pushes back real life to memory. I had to self-talk to myself daily while there that...I am in Calcutta, I am in Varanasi, I am in Delhi and Agra. Otherwise I wouldn't have believed it myself. Now I'm home and I have to tell myself the same thing. I was in Calcutta...the eyes that met mine, the conversations I had, the interviews, new friendships, the little girl smelling her hands after I shook them-still standing on the corner...all real. Too fast. This wasn't a trip, it wasn't a tour. It was a gift entrusted to me-a peek behind the curtain of creation and a picture of how it's doing. Each and every experience like this should be treated with care and humility.

(Truth of the day:) We have so much and that's not always a good thing.

(pics) A video camera is a great way to start a party in India. I was told to expect the unexpected here. Anything and everything that can possibly fit on a vehicle of some sort will. We saw 5 people on a motorcycle on the trip from Delhi to Agra. These pics are all from Calcutta and show a common picture of idol worship on the Ganges; a mighty Ganges that has been terribly polluted and precious people caught in a caste system (an Indian friend took this with my phone) with no way up or out. Yet.

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