The Last Two Weeks In India

Since I last wrote, I’ve been on a whirlwind of travel, mostly for pleasure. I had 5 friends come visit me in Mahableshwar for Christmas, and from there we traveled to Goa for New Years, then down south for an excellent houseboat trip in Kerala, and then I came back north solo to Pune for my cousin’s wedding, and now I’m finally back in Mahableshwar for the final time. Since being in India, I’ve attended a Catholic wedding of a friend of a friend, a Hindu wedding of a friend of my cousin, a family wedding (cousin) in Goa, and another cousin’s wedding, which was a triple hitter since I attended the court wedding, Hindu ceremony and Catholic ceremony. Whew! I’m now back in Mahableshwar, after a few business meetings in Pune… I’m hoping to celebrate my Uncle’s birthday with him before heading back to Pune for more meetings, then to Bombay for a few more before finally returning to the states on the 24th. It has been quite a journey so far, and after all this travel, I can honestly say I’m eager to stop living out of my backpack. As always with long trips, I’ve experienced the ups and downs of being elated at all that is new and exciting in India, to being homesick for simple things like my bed and my guitar. This afternoon, my uncles were asking if I was still in the same house in Seattle that I had been living in when they had visited a few years back. After showing them pictures of my new place in Seattle, I was momentarily transported back to my life in Seattle. I’m sure everything will play out normally, but right now, I have a hard time imagining myself resuming life as usual back in Seattle. I guess two and a half months is enough to get fairly accustomed to things over here, even if I do miss the comfort of being at home. I looked at pictures of our potluck dinners at the house, and those times seem so long ago. Every time I travel for a long period, I’m shocked at how easily the experience can make normal life at home seem so foreign. I’ll leave you with a spattering of photos from the last few weeks. I take full responsibility for all the jumping photos, as those are a favorite of mine. Take for example, the last two photos of my cousins and friends… isn’t the second jumping photo more interesting to look at?