India - The First Week
May 8, 2009 Hello all! It has been quite a whirlwind week here in India. It's been difficult finding access to internet in this country. Otherwise, I've been absorbing everything around me - the colors, the people, the flavors, the pollution, the poverty, and the polemic differences between the rich and the poor.
I spent the first two days in Bangalore staying with friends at one of India's top medical colleges. Had a chance to document through photography the workings of a university hospital and the rare diagnoses of the patient population. Snake bites, tuberculosis, dengue fever, etc. It was a privilege to do morning rounds with a few doctors and students. Whole families would join and stay with their unwell loved ones, many just sleeping and eating on the floor in the rooms.
Spent another two days in the historic resort city of Goa. The Portuguese controlled this port till the mid 1800s when India took back the city for their own. The result - an art/architectural amalgamation of Portuguese influence clashing with Hindu extravagance. Beautiful Indian pinks, purples, and saffrons met with European frescoes and cornices in a blend that was unique on its own. We rented scooters and motorcycles and visited much of the sites, including Old Goa, the old capitol of Portuguese control in India.
I am now in Mumbai and it is an incredibly dense cosmotropolis. I have yet to absorb the intensity of this new cityscape of 20 million people, of which 50% live in slums. I will post again soon, hopefully with a few photos.
More to come. Truly an incredible journey.
architecture, art, india, photojournalism in architecture, art, journalism, travel | Email Article | Share Article 