Monday, February 28, 2005

homehome

2 things in this post.
#1 - we are BACK, unpacking and readjusting in SF.... but we will be posting some more pics and stories so don't give up now if you're still interested. the last few weeks were so busy and all of our pics are temporarily stuck on andy's ipod, but there's plenty of travel stuff and, of course, the opening party for the tastingroom to share.
#2 - i wanted to explain why i posted that last post even though it disturbed some people. india is very very different from the united states in so many ways i couldn't even have foreseen and won't claim to entirely comprehend. i know that everyone's experience there as a traveler is different depending on their own backgrounds, where they travel and who they meet, etc... it's huge and made up of a fascinatingly cohesive patchwork of different religions, geography, tribes, languages... (i would never recommend mumbai to my mom, for instance, but know that she'd enjoy the wildlife parks and temples in rajasthan). we had a great time and learned and saw so much but it wasn't always easy or nice and i felt like it was important in sharing our experience on this blog to not just talk about the beautiful colors and gentle people. this trip was a huge impact on my life for which i'm very grateful and hope i came out a slightly more conscious world citizen at the end. the colors ARE beautiful - men and women love to wear hot pink and bright orange or peacock blue, whole cities are painted pink or blue, hibiscus grow as big as plates, green parrots flit everywhere...and poverty that seems shocking at first reveals a strength of dignity and enjoyment of life and family thats really very inspirational and comforting and gives me, personally, more hope for humanity. part of our experience there, though, involved learning how we reacted to so many new things we hadn't seen before (especially me) whether it's villages of kids who all want to play with you or seeing elephants and camels on the streets or lepers begging or small children sleeping on the floor of the train station in a pile of stray dogs or accidents and deaths and the very un-western reactions others have to them. it's quite a strange, deep adjustment having come from a culture that is based on the importance of the individual as opposed to the larger community. so... that's why i posted something unpleasant like that, if that makes any sense.

3 Comments:

Blogger Scott said...

Yeah it makes sense, and I'm glad you shared that part of your trip. I totally agree that it's important to give the full range of your experiences to us who couldn't be there. But most of all I'm glad you are home, and I'll bring you pie.

5:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes it makes sense and it is also what India is about.
Scott is glad you are home and I'm sad you have left.
I'm already mising here and I'm very jealous of all your friends in San Francisco.
I feel very priviledged to have met you both and I really really hope we can stay in touch.
We are taking care of the tasting room and all the people love it !

By the way I also have started my blog (not as nice as yours yet) its called indian wine adventure (in one word and at the same address as yours)

5:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

land of sudden death

11:00 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home