Monday, February 25, 2008

Road to Bharatpur

Our off-the-beaten-track through Indian country-side road trip splendidly captured the real India that I had been craving to see.
But first, we spent a week in Mumbai for my husband's cousin's massive wedding, full of chaos--late nights of family bonding with scores of aunties, uncles and cousins, fine dining, sari&lengha fittings, ceremonies and pooja's, not to mention adjusting to jet lag, and never having time to leave the hotel...ever...to even SEE the city except from my 21st floor hotel room. I did enjoy bonding with my new dad and his wife.









(Such is the case for NRI's and their American wives at these sorts of family affairs, so I'm learning.) I barely experienced Mumbai, but one day will......so after all the exhaustion, this country scene on the way to Bharatpur was refreshingly relaxing.

The gleaming yellow of the mustard fields dotted with the surprise of the occassional farmer popping up from in between the stalks in a brightly colored sari was like a dream.

The pace of life outside of the major cities is contagiously serene. Ummm, remind me why I live in New York?
Ok, so call me easily amused, but I do find it amazing the things people can balance on their heads.

I was dying to trying one of these - whatever they are - they were selling them everywhere.

I was so curious about these women. I was tempted to get out of the car and join them in the daily gossip.

The children were as curious of me as I was of them. Many of them in the tiny villages outside of the major cities would often just want to practice their English. "Haaaalllooww. What is your name?" smile smile smile..... I welcomed this sweetness as in the cities, we were often pummelled with begging children - difficult to resist, I know.

Just in case you were wondering...yes, I have a little love affair with India. :)

6 comments:

Mary Elizabeth Liberty said...

Oh, love these little stories you're making.

Maria Petrova said...

HURRAY! I will be an avid reader! I can't get enough!!!

Bhavna Bhatnagar said...

Hope you enjoyed your India trip Shireena :-)...did you visit the Bharatpur bird sanctury?

Thanks for dropping by An Indian Summer...hope to hear from you in future too :-)

[and I think I know where to look when I need Sindhi recepies!)

Sherri said...

Hi Bhavna!
We did visit the Bharatpur sanctuary - but because of the drought the past few years, the birds have been giving it a miss and in pursuit of more lush pastures. Sad. But we did see some owls and a few parrots which was nice.
Thanks for your lovely comments - talk to you soon and I'm looking forward to more of your posts!

Without Shadow said...

Found you via Big Fat Brekkie and enjoyed your enjoyment of India .. hope you had a lovely time here! If you ever come to South India, look us up! (Actually our blogs will, I hope, inspire you to come here to Bangalore! Check out sloganmurugan's for wonderful pix of our city!)

And now it's time for lunch so I must log off and go try to fix something healthy-ish. Seeing as I've run out of instant noodles.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Askios!

- Sloganmurugan