Going Nowhere Fast Part 1.1 - Gujarat

Namaste to all you curious little cats, pixies, faeries, gypsies, rockstars and celestial stars out there! Some of you know, some of you don't know that I have just embarked on a journey to weave another patch into my meandering existence. My journey began seven days ago, and will continue for twenty-five more. Maybe one month isn't enough time to explore all realms of organic and inorganic possiblities, but I'm pretty sure I'm off to a good start.

Introspection and Objectivism have helped me in confronting a duality that has always existed in my life. This duality has reincarnated itself into many forms that have made me who I am today. A Gujarati Bong, born in the tropics but raised in the desert oasis of Dubai and subsequently relocated to a world utterly opposite from the equatorials of my life, to Canada where my experiences have offered me the individual grounding from which the seeds of my person have sprouted forth. From the blood that runs through my veins, to the contradictions and revelations that I endure in my daily life, I have been on a perpetual search for a balance between my spirit and the environment, wherever in this world I might be. My journey began over a year ago, when I upped and left Canada for some re-rooting in India. Now, once again, I am back in Gujarat, the land of my mother, to wipe away the dust that settles so easily here, on my past and for a glimpse into my future. Though having never really spent extended periods of time in the Dry State, in hindsight remains to this day, the only place in which I feel like I have a home. Wherein the city of Calcutta is the place of my birth, I have traveled many hundreds of thousands of miles around this planet to find that I am also very much a product of the intensely colourful and nearly sensuous representation of India's western-most state.

My ten days in here are nearing to an end and you better be damn well sure that I have lots of great photos to show for it. My family here is split between two areas (of course, there again the duality), Ahmedabad (now renamed Amdavad) and the university town of Vidyanagar. I had an amazing time photographing the people, animals, architecture, flora and fauna, in addition with documenting the most culturally vibrant celebration of all Gujarati holidays, a time when Gujarati's are truly Gujarati - Navratri, where generation gaps are done away with and everyone, boys and girls, dance for nine straight nights in the most culturally specatcular of gatherings you could imagine . But first, here are a selection of photos taken on the road from Ahmedabad to Vidyanagar, as well as photos from the garden of my childhood..

The following four photos should be viewed as landscape photos, but for some reason blogger has unfortunately uploaded them as portrait shots...

Thanks as always for checkin in, but since its super late and I'm running on empty I shall pause my notably neglected blog for some astral observations, aka sleep. BUT stay tuned as I will be posting many more photos over the next 4 weeks as I travel from Gujarat to Bombay, Delhi to Agra and finally to the Himalyas of Himachal Pradesh. And I promise to add the Navratri/Garba photos asap..and who knows...maybe a video or two...

Love and Light,

R