poona
we traveled to poona by car from bombay, via kandala and lonavla, two breezy hill stations. after poona we went on to jalgaon, ajanta, burhanpur and ujjain, and then returned to bombay and finally chicago. the caves at ajanta are amazing; they were carved out over a period of 800 years, between the 2nd century BC and the 6th century AD. they are not in fact caves at all, but rather huge caverns carved right out of the side of a mountain by buddhist monks. in the 2nd century BC, i don't imagine they had the kind of machinery we now have to carve out mountains, and so i am completely amazed that the ajanta caves exist at all. the "caves" are filled with paintings, sculptures and carvings, and are symmetrical and breathtaking.
it was a fascinating visit; the caverns are so huge that they make you feel small in comparison. at the same time, the realization that without tools and without machines, mere humans created these miraculous caves, made me feel... big. filled with possibility. inspired to be part of a group that can do so much with so little.
anyway. moving on to poona.
our time in poona was wonderful; it was time to see family, and little else. and i loved it. taher got a chance to meet a lot of my extended family, and i got a chance to sit back a little and just enjoy feeling interconnected.
apart from aziz, my entire immediate family, as well as my parents' brothers and sisters, and my first cousins, all live in chicago. thus i take for granted my relationship with my family and my place in the world; i am well supported. however, being in poona and visiting the homes of so many more family members made me feel even more connected; it reminded me that i come from somewhere, from a history that stretches back more than just to my family's years in chicago. there are generations of family that connect me to hundreds of years of history in india. it's a powerful feeling, knowing that you come from somewhere and that you are a part of something. even if that something is simply family.
one thing i experience in both poona and bombay was my parents pointing out buildings and storefronts and landmarks and relating their memories of that place; my mother grew up in bombay and my father grew up in poona. they were both city kids and they can drive around bombay or poona, respectively, and have a connection to much of what they see. there's my mother's medical college; there is my father's favorite bakery. there was the restaurant where my father took my mother on a first date; this was the headquarters of my father's first big client. when we visited jalgaon, after poona, i experienced more of this. here is the home that my mother used to visit in the summers; here is where she used to run around with her sister and cousins and here is where her mother, my nani, grew up.
it's a heady feeling, seeing where my parents come from. seeing, in fact, where i come from. it made it easier to imagine my parents before they arrived in chicago. this was not my first visit to india, but it was the first time i actually paid attention to all of this; in one way, i found that i am tied to india far more than i am tied to the country of my birth. and i found, furthermore, that i am damn proud to be indian-american.
it was a fascinating visit; the caverns are so huge that they make you feel small in comparison. at the same time, the realization that without tools and without machines, mere humans created these miraculous caves, made me feel... big. filled with possibility. inspired to be part of a group that can do so much with so little.
anyway. moving on to poona.
our time in poona was wonderful; it was time to see family, and little else. and i loved it. taher got a chance to meet a lot of my extended family, and i got a chance to sit back a little and just enjoy feeling interconnected.
apart from aziz, my entire immediate family, as well as my parents' brothers and sisters, and my first cousins, all live in chicago. thus i take for granted my relationship with my family and my place in the world; i am well supported. however, being in poona and visiting the homes of so many more family members made me feel even more connected; it reminded me that i come from somewhere, from a history that stretches back more than just to my family's years in chicago. there are generations of family that connect me to hundreds of years of history in india. it's a powerful feeling, knowing that you come from somewhere and that you are a part of something. even if that something is simply family.
one thing i experience in both poona and bombay was my parents pointing out buildings and storefronts and landmarks and relating their memories of that place; my mother grew up in bombay and my father grew up in poona. they were both city kids and they can drive around bombay or poona, respectively, and have a connection to much of what they see. there's my mother's medical college; there is my father's favorite bakery. there was the restaurant where my father took my mother on a first date; this was the headquarters of my father's first big client. when we visited jalgaon, after poona, i experienced more of this. here is the home that my mother used to visit in the summers; here is where she used to run around with her sister and cousins and here is where her mother, my nani, grew up.
it's a heady feeling, seeing where my parents come from. seeing, in fact, where i come from. it made it easier to imagine my parents before they arrived in chicago. this was not my first visit to india, but it was the first time i actually paid attention to all of this; in one way, i found that i am tied to india far more than i am tied to the country of my birth. and i found, furthermore, that i am damn proud to be indian-american.
...Natural is the static
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home