I've been pretty dumb lately.

Generally, I'm not verbally verbose anyway, but intense experiences, new adventures, particularly emotive moments, awe-inspiring visions, these things have a certain power. They cause immediate sensory overload and it takes me quite a bit of time to process everything and recuperate. I need to seep. In the meantime, I'm often dumbstruck. It was not unusual for me to be quiet in India.
My personal muteness was in direct contrast to everything else around me. Bright sari colors draped across women's bodies. Rickshaws, trucks, and cars sped and swerved through every centimeter of street. Dogs, cows, and pigs rooted along sidewalks. Vendors called from every corner, pleading for your attention and business. Dust drifted and blew, haze settled across each vista. Horns honked constantly, politely notifying everyone and everything to move or be struck. Hungry children tapped on windows and pulled on shirttails, motioning a request for food or money with their hands at their mouths. Lights shone. Hues soaked. Sounds resonated. There were peaceful moments a plenty, too. Below the beauty of the Taj Mahal with wide eyes. Among the ruins behind Fatehpur Sikri. On the rocking bunk of a sleeper train crossing the Indian plains.

People, history, culture, art, life, religion, etc. These things are really big and small and old and new and ungeneralizable. Nothing I write will capture what India is if that's what you're hoping to read. Nor can one ever attain that understanding over a visit of less than two weeks, however well planned and executed those weeks are (THANKS BRIAN, for the gazillionth time...the future Mr. Rani Mukherjee did an amazing job as trip coach/team leader), nor do I think you would want to try. So we'll take this slowly, piecemeal style.

Additionally, in the week since I've been back I've either been teaching or totally zonked out in my apartment. Maybe it's exhaustion, maybe it's pneumonia finally catching up to me, maybe it's that nine days with Team India was not enough.
Needless to say, it's been kind of strange. A week has gone by and as immediate as the adventure still feels, the distinct oppositeness of everything I've recently experienced also makes it all seem very far away or perhaps just a figment of my overzealous imagination.



So we'll start things off simply with the general agenda of the leg of the trip I was present for, into which, hopefully, I will delve as time goes on. You have to frame a house first, anyway. Please feel free to ask questions or share comments, as usual. And corrections are welcome, Team members. It was a bit of a whirlwind.

December 28th: Arrive 5:30pm at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India. Holiday greetings, fine rooftop dinner, sleep in Hotel Relax.

December 29th: Morning train ride to Agra. Brunch. Agra Fort. Taj Mahal. Rooftop Dinner.

December 30th: Explore Fahetepur Sikri and other parts of Agra town. Train ride back to Delhi in the evening.

December 31st: Red Fort. Jama Masjid Mosque. Humayun's Tomb. Dehlihad Market. Catch the evening train to be ridden overnight across the Gangetic plains to Durgapur.

January 1st: Conclusion of train ride. Three hour taxi from train station in Durgapur to Brian's current home, the village of Katna in Murshidabad, West Bengal. Stop by Jagriti Public School. Meet teachers and see the beautiful, small campus. Settle in to our great accommodations for the evening. Head into nearby town to lunch at Brian's regular afternoon eating establishment, purchase sweets for the teachers at school, and buy vegetables to make dinner at Brian's apartment. Stop back at school. Eat sweets. Play cricket till sunset. Walk home. Music. Dinner. Music. I obviously enjoyed this part of the trip in a special way. I'm not even at the delving stage yet.

January 2nd: Visit the students, see the schoolyard in action. Barber in town. “Computer” with Class 4 back at school. Lunch. Walk into Village Katna. Train to Kolkata. Settle into Brian's former flat.

January 3rd: Visit Victoria Memorial and the cultural/arts neighborhood. Visit the young people at Loreto School, where Brian worked in 2005, in the evening. Explore New Market. Enjoy another dinner on another rooftop. Go to Hindi movie “Welcome”.

January 4th: Kali Temple. Dakshewar and Belur Math. Boat ride on the Ganges to Belur. Ramakrishna. Late lunch at the Mitras'.

January 5th: Easy morning. One more visit to Loreto after lunch. Catch overnight train back to Delhi.

January 6th: Back in Delhi. Lunch at the Golden Cafe in the neighborhood of Hotel Relax. Taxi to airport. Farewell.