(Audrey) Welcome to our blog, primarily devoted to detailing the adventures of a young American couple as we moved across the world to India, pursuing our careers as a scholar of Indology (Audrey) and a lawyer (Thane). Unfortunately, you’ve missed us as our travels are now over and our blog concluded. Below is a brief overview of our year with links to some of our posts along the way. We hope you enjoy!
We begin in August 2009 with Thane setting up our new home in Delhi and learning to drive Delhi-style while Audrey played around a bit in Kyoto before joining him in early September. In the following ten months, we traversed the Indian subcontinent in search of pleasure, memorable experiences, and, above all for Audrey, manuscripts.
We found incredible beauty and peace floating through the backwaters of Kerala and visiting Khajuraho (Audrey take; Thane’s take). We were stunned (in a positive sense) to find wineries we could tour in Maharashtra and equally stunned (in a more mixed sense) to visit the slums of Bombay. There were various hilarious moments, surprising encounters, cultural misunderstandings, terrifying incidents, and sheer absurdities. For work, Audrey sought out some bizarre experiences, such as climbing up thousands of stairs and watching effigies of Ravana be blown to smithereens. And then there were the countless Indian archives that stretched from Calcutta to Baroda. My experiences at these libraries varied greatly. Sometimes I literally cried or was appalled, while other times I walked away awed by a library’s beauty and with a smile on my face.
By the end of June we were ready to move on. I offered a final series of reflections on the Indian population, diversity, and libraries. Then off we went, settling into a cushy life in London and ending our true adventures, at least for the time being. I hope we’ve done some justice to India and the experiences of expats therein through the record we offer here.
August 5, 2010 at 4:14 am |
Congratulations on your trip and your blog. I’m very sorry it (the blog) has ended. I really enjoyed visiting and reading. Let me know if there are ever any new blog endeavors (either one of you, or both). Best wishes to you both in your future studies, career, and life.
July 6, 2011 at 9:50 am |
Nice compilation of the blog and the articles on your tour of india. It is quite rare that a foreigners take a good opinion from their visit to india.The analysis made on Dharavi was striking.