More indian cities

I know you have already seen a lot of pictures of cows in streets. Here is another one.








When I first pulled the blankets back and saw these sheets I was all, "Awwuh! Nasty!" but then I figured that they were stained this way on purpose to conceal REAL barf stains. Or these sheets were just very, VERY barfed on.



A midnight festival that Joe had no choice but to scope out as it was keeping him up from 3 blocks away.

A man at the festival sits still to blend in with all the statues... and then.. "ZAAA!"







Thought this massive steel Krishna in his chariot are impressive, the real story here is in the man in all white who managed to tail us for a good part of the afternoon. Joe caught on to him quick. The man was a bad spy. Always staying about 30 feet away and acting like he was looking at something else. At one point we passed a hawker who offered Joe a book which Joe examined and passed on. The spy then stopped the hawker and bought the book Joe had examined. We then flipped the game on him.

Who's spying on who now, Creepy!








The 'Bed of Arrows' may sound like a comfortable way to be laid down on a battlefield, but it turns out it is pretty painful. They say this gentleman stayed alive for six months after they stuck him to the ground.




An Indian monsoon blows into town.







An old man storks past a banyan tree said to be an off shoot of one planted by Krishna. (Tree not pictured.)







Mia, Isabelle, Stephan and Ringo cross a busy highway while Joe almost gets hit by a car trying to take a sweet picture.





This was the final step in a very long line of steps on a promotional poster.

Joe gets one step closer to being a Seik at "The House of Turbans"









Toomhara Style accha hai!

Stephan kickin it Punjabi on a vinyl couch in the back seat of a hired ride.

Indian Safari

After only 4 hours of sleep we awoke early in the morning to venture out into the Indian wilderness. We were in search of tigers, elephants, and whatever else we could find. We wanted that perfect photo. The one worh a thousand words. The photo of something that people back home had never seen. This... is our story....

5:00 am. Joe and Mia sleep on the couch in the hotel lobby while they wait for the jeep to arrive. The hotel manager is angry about losing his spot on the couch (where he was sleeping) and awakens them to say, "If you just want to sleep, you should go back to your room."








6:00 am. The journey begins!














6:30am. The first animal we spot is the mysterious and majestic Blue Cow. It looked like a horse cow to me. A blue horse cow.










Mia! Look at this Blue Horse Cow! Oh.













7:00 am. Next we spot what was described to us as "the female Blue Cow." It is not blue. I could not tell if it was female from my vantage point, but I trusted our guide . I trusted him to not only provide me with accurate information about fauna, but to save my life should one of the fauna attack!








7:45 am. Joe goes for a pleasant stroll through the flood planes and steps over large chunks of wild elephant evidence while scouting for more animals.














Joe sees.... A wild peacock! They are everywhere!














Mia come out and look at this wild Peacock! Mia?

















8:30 am. We press on through the misty jungles despite increasing rain and darkening skies. We can't stop yet. We still need that perfect shot. Something powerful, beautiful and original.









9:45 am. Mia finally wakes up and says, "That safari was boring."(true story). The group hikes up into a blind and scans the land. There there! Over in those bushes! Hand me the camera!










Finally we see something worth photographing. The safari is a success!

Haridwar - Holy city on the Ganges

A guru type surveys his land. The land... is called India.












The monsoons have started early here because of global warming. The streets all flood and anyone unlucky enough to have to travel takes their life in their hands. Though the water isn't that deep the government opens all the manholes to help with the flooding. If you don't know where they are you can fall in or drive your motorcycle/ bicycle into one and die. This is not a joke. We saw one motorcycle go over and people die every time it rains.




A sign at a highway rest stop.

















A farmer takes a moment to proudly pose with his grain during a freeway traffic jam.











If you decorated your cattle car like this in America it might be considered tacky or unique, but here it just blends in.











Joe, Mia and Marla on a bridge over the holy Ganges river. It is expected that any time a person dies in India their family brings their ashes to this river and deposits them in the water.








Children play in a poop filled park. The smell here was atrocious. I could barely keep from throwing up. I kept breathing through my nose though because I didn't want any of that smell in my mouth. The smells here can switch instantly from the worst smell to the best in only a matter of feet, which makes you notice them all the more.





Tent homes set up along the river.














Two teens race each other into the river.












An Indian man sits down for a rest. Everywhere you look in Haridwar this type of man can be found. The style is the same but they run the full range of personality types: from giving off an aura of being truly enlightened to giving off the smell of being completely stoned.








Women crowd around a cart full of mangos.













Joe strips down to jump into the Ganges. They say anyone who fully submerges in the holy river will have of their sins washed away. You trade the cleanliness of your body for the cleanliness of your soul. I got a tiny bit of the water in my mouth and it tasted like icecream.













Joe and his friend Naresh pose after a swim in the Ganges. Joe felt under dressed without a denim vest and denim capri pants on.











Joe gathers a crowd on the banks of the Ganges. Perhaps he should release a Joe Pagac calendar here. It may be a big hit.











Joe is getting used to being held by skantily clothed, little brown men now. It doesn't even phase him.
















A tiny shrine set up in the street.

















Everything is so colorful in India that it is hard to concentrate on anything you are looking at.












These ladies made me wait to take their photo until they all had their sticks in their hands.












A starving man lays dying in the street. No joke here.












Mia, Isabelle and Cecile pose with a group of locals. In the west we say, "Smile!" In India they say, "HEY! Look serious!"











Surplus wrappers for candy and cola are sold as blankets and raincoats for the very poor. It makes it so hard to walk around without getting hungry. It can be uncomfortable to find one's self saying, "Hmmmm, I haven't had Double Stuffed Oreos in a while..." as a rain soaked, mostly naked man walks by wearing a sheet of the wrappers.






Skittles. Taste the rainbow.














A motley crew of temple-goers marches past. Check out the sunglasses on the guy in the back.












Our driver pulls the land cruiser over and blocks 3 lanes of highway traffic so he can stand in the street and enjoy a fresh roasted cob of corn.

This is a baby Joe stole. You can tell she isn't happy about the situation.

















I'm not sure what this ad is for, since they read left to right here just like in America, but I suspect I would be happier as the man in the 'Before' picture.









These are some kids I don't know.














Anou and Mia, the respective bosses of Project Why and Joe, have some morning conversation at Mata Ji's house before school.











One thing the next generation of Indians lacks is optimism.












Two lazy elephanteirs practice their men's calendar poses during their lunch break. Just one of the strange things you can see from the balcony of our school.









Chandah helps Mia get dressed for a wedding while Anou lounges on Shamika's bed and conversates.











Joe drives it like he stole it. Indian Taxi. Beep beep.
















This is like that New York building that is so famous, but it is in Delhi.













Mia marvels at how a cow can get so large when all it eats are bits of tinfoil and burlap sacks off the street.











The dot on Mia's forehead is sandalwood. The dot in her hair is bird poop.












Joe has a very serious conversation with Munna, a child in the special section. Munna acts extremely serious when he talks and uses all sorts of adult gestures and facial expressions, but all he is saying is "Cucumbers, Cabbage, Cucumbers, Cabbage" over and over in Hindi.








Here he has a whole conversation on a cell phone (piece of wood) using the same two words as above. The call started out friendly but it ended in an argument during which Munna angrily hung up the phone and stormed off.









Mia shows off some of the vegetables she diced up for a spicy dish she was preparing. Delicious!
















Joe makes Mia take a break from teaching to take photos of him pretending to teach Carin. "Yes, very good, a conjunction is.... like a... ummm... Mia could you come here and help Carin?"










This man is making pan. It is like a chewing tobacco and he mixes in all the different spices you want right there on the spot. The spit from it is red and every surface below waist level is covered in red spit splatters in Delhi.














This is a mosque in Old Delhi. The tower in the background is where I took the next picture from.
















While I was taking this picture everyone else in the tower was taking pictures of Mia and I with their camera phones. Not many white people make it here.










There are many different places to buy your meat in Delhi. Some of them are more sanitary than others. See below....











Mmmmmm. Goat heads.













Mia and I were invited into a 'hospital' that was in a Hindu temple complex. Then we got in there and started walking around and noticed it was a BIRD HOSPITAL! For ASIAN BIRDS that were SICK! I wonder what they had? Was it... the FLU!!!! YAHHHHHHH! We got out of there FAST! (and washed our hands.)












...also what were they DOING in this bird hospital anyway? (Pictured at left: A bird hospital mural)
















Asian Birds.