Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Not only in Color

Photo: Mandvi Shipyard, Kutch, Gujarat, India

I must first apologize for my absence, but then promise that you'll be seeing (reading) more of me. I’m done being a bad blogger. But I do have an excuse: of the past 5 weeks I’ve only been consistently in Ahmedabad for 1; I also stopped back in for a few days on Jan 14th and 15th for the (most amazing) Kite Festival (I still have sliced up fingers to prove it), but then was off again to Bhuj and Mandvi (in Gujarat’s most-Western state of Kutch) to take a swim in the Gulf of Kutch with all my clothes on and explore a ship yard where men in flip-flops with strong, dry, calloused and cracked hands make big beautiful boats for oil-rich Arab countries. My recent travels still have my head spinning, and my room reflects the going-ons in my brain. Settling back into my routine is also somewhat surreal, as 3 of my closest friends in Ahmedabad have moved (London, Bombay, Kolkata), and half of the staff in my office has shifted to a new site. Everything feels slower, calmer, quieter - but there is a storm brewing inside me which I’ll try to get down in words soon. Once I finish unpacking the bag that carried me (rather than I it), get used to waking up at 5:30am again, catch up on some Bollywood films, call my sister to congratulate her on her engagement and acceptance into her first choice of ophthalmology residency programs (she’s a superstar), buy a new fountain pen, remind myself of why I’m here and what I’m doing at work, I’ll begin the second half of my postings. Sounds like I’ll never post again, right? Wrong. Shouldn’t be more than a couple days. Welcome back.