Farsighted Fly Girl

Billed as the longest dance festival in the world, India's Navratri Festival is filled with color, music and dance. Running nine consecutive nights to honor the goddess Durga,   I was excited to witness this joyful celebration in person. From the minute that I landed in Ahmedabad,  which is noted for extensive and particularly dramatic Navratri festivities, I could feel the high energy. The opening ceremony exploded with a red carpet, spotlights, processions, video projections and a dizzying array of dancers and music. It was truly overwhelming just to keep up with the spectacles because dancers were on the stage, twirling through aisles and prancing on the side of the stage. I'm glad I had the chance to watch subsequent days of the festival because they were different from the opening night. The first night featured a swirl of professional dancers and singers but other nights displayed dance students and judges rating their performances. I got to congratul...

I discovered that everything I'd heard about India is true. It is colorful. It is chaotic. It attacks all of your senses. Landing in Ahmedabad, the capital city of Gujarat, India's westernmost state, I was swept up by the street scenes, the temples and the constant motion of tuk tuks, bikes and people. But as I explored more of the surrounding villages, I realized that the essence of everything is the Indian people. They always welcomed me with ready smiles and warm greetings. These women were preparing chapatis, an unleavened flatbread, to offer us as we visited an ironworker's shop who handmakes all kinds of  bells. These men live in a small village and asked that their photo be taken. They gave us a tour of their homes and offered us chai. This woman demonstrated how to make cotton thread at the Gandhi ashram .  She guided us through the rooms and complimented me on my dress, which she mistook to be Indian (it was an African design). These schoo...

From the food, to the music, fashion and wellness, I've admired Indian culture for a long time. This week, I get to experience one of my top bucket list items by visiting Gujarat, on the Western coast of India. I'll be hosted by Gujarat Tourism  and they have compiled an exciting itinerary, including witnessing  and participating in the annual Navaratri Festival, shown above. The nine day Hindu celebration is one of the most popular dance festivals in India, which celebrates the nine forms of goddess. Gujarat is also Gandhi's hometown so I'll be visiting his ashram and exploring ancient  stepwells, temples and small towns. I know it will be a life-changing journey so please look out for posts and pix!

I've been away for awhile, immersed in the vivid details of India. The Indian Himalayan mountain ranges are the loftiest in the world and though I've never witnessed them in person, I feel like I have an idea of what it might be like to scale them.  At 1474 pages, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, is one of the longest novels of the last century and the longest one -volume offering in the English language. It tops War and Peace and Ulysses in length and in the intimidating heft of the tome, which is saying a lot.  A Suitable Boy   is exhaustive in its scope of 50s era Indian life, examining everything from politics and castes, to religion and food.  I feel like I've spent weeks in India, observing ceremonies, talking with families and learning it's complex history and I'm both enlightened and tired from the experience. Set in the early 1950s, shortly after the Partition of India and Pakistan and during the first elections after independence, the novel offers insig...