I've finally got the opportunity to sort through my photos, pick the best and publish them into an online gallery. You'll find it here. I realise that this blog was left incomplete.
I only realised how many people had been following it after I got back to Dublin, where people were saying "you stopped for ages, there was nothing". I suppose over the course of the trip both my access to the internet and my inclination to go onto it decreased. Especially during the trip through Sangla and Spiti valleys, the remote Himalayan villages, which in many ways was the most magical part of the journey.
I hope that I've made up for this somewhat by putting my photos up online, with extensive comments and a few anecdotes thrown in from the time that was missing from this blog.
Even though the photos themselves are just a taste of the trip, there are many gaps. Notably the Tibetan Buddhist monastery at Tabo, where the Dalai Lama hopes to retire. There was no photo taking permitted in the monastery. The 14th century murals of Green Tara, the various Buddha and the depiction of the cycle of enlightenment were very beautiful. This, plus innumerable trips in tata trucks, local busses and encounters with characters that all happened with no thought on my part of trying to "capture the experience".
Since coming back to Dublin I've found my living place, my work circumstances and my main areas of focus change. As ever, a trip to India marks the passage into a new phase of life here in Ireland upon return.
One good thing about this time around though has been the connections that persist with India and the people that I met there. The first time in India, back in '94, left me with the sensation that the whole thing had been a dream, since no connections were made between my life there and what I came home to.
Not so this time. I'm still corresponding with some of the new friends I met. Janie came to stay here for a weekend with her friend, Justine. Ailish and myself went with them to see Amma at the RDS, just as I'd seen her in Delhi with Shona. Mark, from Minnesota, who I met in Rishikesh was here in Dublin when I got back from Delhi and we went out for pints in Mulligan's.
Arriving in Dublin around the same time as myself were the many kilos of booty that I'd sent from Pushkar, which made welcome gifts. Ailish was showered in silk and silver. Rajasthani wall hangings still wait to be hung on the walls of the new house in Dublin 2.
Sanjay and I have corresponded since I got back and I know that should I ever go back again, Asha can arrange for me to be picked up at the airport and brought to her guesthouse in Vasant Kunj. This is a huge advantage, since the arrival in Delhi is often the most traumatic part of the whole trip for many travellers. Then, of course, there's the indelible Ganesha on my right arm. The Remover of Obstacles will be with me for some time to come.
Posted by Mark at December 15, 2004 12:21 AM