A Nation in Transit

We are a country born out of a deluge of multi cultural influences spread across a few thousand years. And like every other nation, we aren't perfect. But what we have is a rich history, deeply enmeshed in our modern lives, supported by a tenacious value system and a steady undercurrent of spirituality.

Mark Twain had once called India the "..cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition..."

- Given the present state of her affairs, I am not sure India would recognize herself in us today.

Nonetheless, the optimist in me would like to believe that beneath all the superficial filth and dilapidated health of its governance, underlying the pregnant silence before the storm, there may be a semblance of a new India waiting to be born.

Coming Home

In my pursuit of the enchantments of this world I have been wading my way through living history ..one place at a time..and am having a whale of a time! Yet when the newness of a place wears me down and the strangers start getting too familiar for my liking, my heart begins to long for home....

Electric wires in old Delhi

.......for the familiar idiosyncrasies of the place which has grown on me for the last sixteen odd years.





Each one of its inhabitants may have their own opinion on this city but for me Delhi or Dilli as we locals know it, is one place which is swinging in a time machine. Here you have the swanky modern bungalows of the nouveau rich..over there the famous central business district in the heart of Lutyens' delhi - as much a buzz of modern day showcase of India shining as of her majestic resplendence of 1933...

Sheesh Gumbad

....and then there are these glimpses that make us wonder.....

Bada Gumbad and Mosque

....on some days.... when its 3 pm in New Delhi .....6.30 am in New York........it is only 1443 AD in certain parts of Dilli....!!!...

...little wonder it makes my heart tug?