Wandering Here and There...

2011-06-24T10:24:00.001-07:00

2011-06-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Check out my new blog http://www.shooteatrepeat.com

NEW BLOG

2008-04-12T08:36:00.001-07:00

Hey All,

A big thank you to everyone who has followed this blog for the past 8 months.

I have changed where I am blogging to a new location that is hosted at the same place as my website www.dennyculbert.com

If you have an interest in continuing to ready about my adventures this time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana please book mark the site http://blog.dennyculbert.com

it will be more of the same my ramblings about life and many more photos and on the new blog they'll be much bigger.

Hope you all continue to visit my work.

Best,

dc

Marriage. Through the Eyes of the Best Man.

2008-03-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

Last month my best friend since 10th grade got married to a wonderful girl, who I'm happy to call one of my best friends as well. I was fortunate enough to be the best man in the wedding and of course my camera went along with me to try and tell the story of their big day.

The Rehearsal. One night left until Death Do us Part.

Tomorrow when we look out the pews will be full of friends and loved ones.

Mother of the bride getting in a few pre-game shots.

Kristen and her dad all smiles for their practice run down the aisle.

The Big Day. The Myers Syzgenda Wedding.

Bryan talks to his big brother, Jason, who you notice is dressed and ready for the photographer who is scheduled to arrive in 5 minutes. The groom on the other hand not so much.

Moving in the right direction.

David is ready and Eric is getting there but what about the groom?

Finally... progress.

Mr. Myers and myself checking out our tuxes one last time before photos.

Best Man Supplies: Marriage Certificate to make this official. Flask incase the Bryan gets nervous at the church. Not pictured but safely tucked in my pocket are the Wedding Bands.

Bryan skillfully pins on Mom's flowers.

No worries no cold feet here.

We're ready get the party started.

Of course Myers has a knife on his wedding day. Performing some last minute surgery on Eric's tux.

Looking sharp Bryan waits to head out into the sanctuary.

I definitely had the best view in the house... well except for maybe God.

Officially Bryan and Kristen Myers.

Hurry up and Wait. Picture time.

After a job well done minister and family friend, Chad Delaney waits to get his photo taken with the bride and groom.

Rainy gazes at the stars on the ceiling of the limo while we wait out the photo shoot.

The King and Queen of winter head to the limo after photos at the church.

Keeping warm during the out door photo shoot at the skating rink. Being in the wedding party is hard work.

We Finally made it to the hotel.

Time to make a grand entrance.

Introduction to everyone for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Myers at the reception.

Kristin getting some attention from the photographers.

A civil ending to a cheesecake war.

Byan proves his Manhood.

Father Daughter Dance.

Bryan gets some words of wisdom from Mom during the dance.

Chicken Dance.

The party continued well into the night, but this is where our story ends.

I have to say thank you to Kristin and Bryan for letting me be apart of the most important day of their lives thus far.

There will be more posts coming soon from my new location in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So keep checking back.

- Denny

One Month and One Roll of Toilet Paper Left

2007-12-14T21:38:00.000-08:00

Walking the family buffalo.

I have been in India for 5 months now... i've neglected my blog for almost two months, but for good reason. My options were to either blog or to sleep, for once i actually chose sleep. I have so much to say and much has changed since my last post but there just isn't enough time to put it all into words. So here are a few numbers.

I've clicked my camera 11,549 times as of yesterday
On Dec. 19 I will finish up my 4th and final class of spoken English students
I'm currently working on 3 journalism projects
I have 1 roll of American toilet paper remaining (tp is difficult to come by in Umarkhed)
The evening English class of young kids has grown from 3 students to 12 students in 2 classes one taught by me and the other by Kelly
I have attended and photographed 3 Hindu weddings

I have exactly 30 days left

My internet is extremely slow today so I can only upload two photos. In the next few days I'll try to add a few more. For the rest you will have to wait until I am home or until I can launch the India section of my website www.dennyculbert.com

Nagpur, Bombay, and Umarkhed

2007-10-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Taking tea at 4 am in Bombay with two Muslim men before their morning prayers on the second to last day of Ramadan.

This post is mostly to put up the photos that I have been saving for way too long now. I haven't had much time to post recently because I am working to get the English classes working again at Gawande College. I will try to post another update soon. Until then I hope you enjoy the photos.

- Denny

Another giant bug in the guest house.

Umarkhed.

Nagpur Safari and Dam Excursion

View from the top of the dam inside the tiger reserve.

Gecko Art.

Tiger Watch Tower.

Loren and I rode on the front of this jeep through the jungle until the forest ranger stopped us. Then our driver gave the rangers a donation/bribe to let us continue without further harassment.

Someone left a ladder out so Loren and I found our way onto the roof of the guest house in the tiger reserve.

Nagpur.

A visit to Gandhi's Ashram

This guy new Gandhi and spent an hour telling us about him and his teachings.

Buddhist Temple.

The Shiva Temple behind our college at 2 am.

Bombay

In the evening during Ramadan the streets of Dongrey a Muslim neighborhood in Mumbai are filled with people buying and selling goods when the break their fast each day.

This is the first time in a long time that I've seen magazines and newspapers in English.

Not real tigers I promise

Only in India. McDelivery

Dongrey. (My hotel was in this neighborhood during my stay in Bombay.)

Kelly is Finally in India.

Shopping for Indian clothes in Nanded.

Cow in the City.

Rupala.

Another portrait of me by Sarfaraj a boy from the village.

Me and Mebu one of the boys that I teach English to in the evening.

It's been awhile but i'm finally posting again...

2007-09-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

This has to be a quick post because I'm very busy at the moment getting new classes started and trying to settle back into Umarkhed. I was in Bombay for most of last week to meet some Indian photojournalists and to pick up Kelly from the airport.
It was a welcomed break from life at the college and rural India. The next post will hopefully have photos from the city.

For now here are some photos from the final day of the Ganesh Festival...

Krishna's ready to drive..

Ganesh Festival.

Quick Update...

2007-09-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick over view of adventure here in Umarkhed.

1. I'm still teaching 3 college classes of spoken English a day, but they will be wrapping up this week and new batches will start on Oct 5th.
2. My evening english class for the kids from the village is underway... each night a few more students show up. I started with three and now i'm up to 14.
3. I've started having classes on Festivals and Sundays because first of all there are far too many holidays in this country and second my students are so eager to learn they basically demand to have class even on their days off.

basically everything is going well... unfortunately the blog is being neglected because I'm working on putting my portfolio together to ship back to the US. So hopefully when i get home i'll have an internship or job waiting for me.
(If anyone knows of any newspapers that will be hiring at the end of January please drop me an email)

On to the photos....

Sunday Classes...

Normally on off days I have about 15 of my 30 students show up... we have class at 9:30 am on the balcony of the guest house where I live because the college is closed.
Class lasts about 3 hours, but we have formal class for only about half the time. The other half is spent socializing and playing games to help with spoken English.

A Day at the Water Fall..

I spent the day with Dr. Raut and his family relaxing at a waterfall...

Krishna got a haircut...

We had lunch and relaxed in the guest near the falls.

Dr. Raut has a rare moment of relaxation.

Cows are everywhere in the country and are very friendly... probably because he knows he will never be a cheeseburger.

Birds, Cows, and Nature stuff...

Taking in the scenery...

We stopped off in a village on the way home from the waterfall to have some tea. I found some more interesting doorways and little kids..

Everyone crowded around Dr. Raut's car to see the Americans...

There should be another new post in a day or two... i have many more photos to show and much more to say it just depends on the cooperation of my dial up internet connection.

Take Care.

Snakes and Elephants. Just another Day in India.

2007-09-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is just going to be a quick post because I'm exhausted and need some sleep. So you're getting a bunch of photos and not a lot of text. The photos are mostly from the first day of a ten day long festival of Lord Ganesh (he's the one with the elephant head... its a long story how he came to look like that so I'll tell it another day.)

Just Another Snake Friend.

Snake from a Bag.

Snake Friend.
I was walking through the market on Saturday when this man came up to me and asked me if I wanted to see a snake. I said sure I'm always up for show and tell. So he takes me over to a fruit seller's cart and unties a sack made out of cotton and much to my surprise was this very long snake. Thankfully he didn't ask me to hold it. He had caught it in the town and was going to take it to the jungle later to release it.

Umarkhed.

The Old Part of Town.

Door Ways.
One big difference between India and the US; the front doors to homes are always open.

Party Time!

Lord Ganesh statues roll into town down the main street pulled by trucks and tractors.

The statues are followed around by groups of drummers, dancers, and people covering each other with red/pink powder called gulal. Needless to say myself and my camera bag were multi colored by the end of the day.
I was going to stay out of the way but the first group of drummers I tried to photograph pulled me into the center of them and made me dance with the rest of the festival goers. It was like nothing else I've ever experienced.

The Drummers are Rewarded with the dancing of the crowd and 10 or 20 rupee notes.

More Dancing in the Street.

Intense Gulal.

There will be more celebration on the last day of the festival and of course more interesting photos. So I'm going to wait until then to explain the whole festival.
Hope you Enjoyed the Celebration.
- Denny

Bursting Bubbles. Welcome to Rupala.

2007-09-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Laundry day in Rupala.

For a long time now everyone I know has had to listen to me preach about how Americans never leave the safe "bubbles" we create around our lives. I thought that most people would never push the limits of what they can do and will never know anything about the world around them because they just live their ordinary lives never reaching any sort of summit. I would talk about how traveling outside of the US and exploring other cultures was the only way for someone to know anything about the world and to reach any sort of meaning in life.

It took coming to India for me to realize that I was wrong. While I still believe that people try to live within the the bubbles they create for themselves, I've also learned that for most people everyday is a new mountain to climb. No matter what you do or where you live whether it be in the US, India or anywhere in between waking up and facing the day is a challenge.
This realization hit me when I went exploring in the village of Rupala the other day. I realized that I'm two months into this trip and I had never fully explored the village that is within a 5 min walk of the house that I live in. Maybe I didn't bring my safe bubble with me to India but I certainly created a new one when I got here. It had become easy to stay within the grounds of the college where I am very busy everyday teaching classes and after the first month was very comfortable in my surroundings. Then the people of Rupala came into my life. They started asking me tough questions about what happens to them and their kids after I leave. I've started to see into the lives of the people in this community and I realize that they may also have their comfort zones that they live in, but they probably also never have the opportunity to leave their country or even this town. So how could my theory about bubbles be right? It can't.

I assumed that I knew far more about the world and life than I actually did as a 22 year old college student. After two months here I feel like I've learned a lot more but I'm no where near knowing the meaning and potential of my own life and while as a photojournalist I have a unique privilege to learn about the lives of many other people I will never be in a position where I can judge their lives. I have the power to tell their stories and in each one that I do there will be a bit of myself and I will learn a little more about the world and myself but never again can I say that someone lives in a safe little bubble.

An Afternoon In Rupala.

Home.
This home made of sticks and straw is one of two types of houses that you typically find in Rupala and other villages in India. The other type is made of concrete walls and a tin roof that is usually held down by stones.

Family Portrait.

Mouse Control.

Flour Machine.
I came across a family that has a machine that turns wheat into flour in a hut next to their home. Everything inside, including the people, were covered in a thin layer of white powder.

Farmer.
It's hard to tell but this man is standing next to a hut overgrown with vines. He uses the hut for shelter from the sun during the day while he tends to the fields. The fields though are not his own, like most of the people in Rupala he works to farm the land of others for not very much money.

Temple Spire.

Nap Time.

Dogs and Temples.

Temple Caretaker.
I thought this man was the temple's guru due to his appearance and that's what I was told at first. But after further translation it turned out he is only a part of the small group of caretakers at the temple in Rupala.

The Real Guru.

Another Temple Caretaker.

Well Water.
This woman stood at the edge of a deep well lowering her container down to collect water for her family.

Mad Girl.
The kids from the village all told me to stay away from this girl because she is "mad." When I asked why they say that about her I was told that she has been disturbed since birth. Of course now I'm very much interested in her story and can hopefully show the kids in the village that she isn't someone that they should fear, but just need to understand.

Carrom.

Another gecko in my room.

Action Packed

2007-09-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few days, so my text has to be brief this time. But there should be more than enough photos to keep you busy until I can post again.

A quick run down of the events of the last 3 days...

Sunday: Dr. Ram Gawande's birthday festivities.
(Dr. Gawande has given more to this college and to this area of India than anyone could possibly imagine without being here and seeing his generosity firsthand. Also without him this life changing journey would not have been possible.)
Birthday Events hosted by Rotary
1. Blood Drive
2. Free Dental Screening/Work
3. Free Eardrum Puncture Repair (this is normally a $200 (40,000 rupees) operation at a private practice) the patients were selected a few days before the operation day because there would only be enough time to do a few repairs.
College sponsored events
1. Opening Ceremony for a 15 day long dairy farming workshop for local students and farmers
2. Day One of the intercollegiate Kabaddi tournament

Monday
1. Day Two of Kabaddi tournament
2. Pula Festival. This is a festival to honor farmers and their oxen.

Tuesday
1. Kabaddi Finals
2. The Pula Festival makes its way to the temple in my backyard at Gawande College

Other Updates:
There is only one month left until Kelly flies into Bombay and I get to go pick her up from the airport, so she can join me for the last half of this adventure.

I have ten kids from Rupala that want to be in the English class I'm creating. So that's very exciting and should be finalized hopefully by tomorrow afternoon then I'll have my first class tomorrow evening.

Hope everything is well back in US or where ever you're reading this from.

Namaste,

Denny

SUNDAY

Our college's president giving a speech during the opening of the dairy farming program.

Eardrum Surgery.

The tubes were used to suction any fluid out of the ear so the surgeon could work.

This project was made possible with the help of rotary and this surgeon who works in a prestigious hospital in Hyderabad. He was trained in California and Germany.

Waiting.

My brief visit to the government hospital where treatment is free to the public everyday was beyond words. Hopefully I'll be able to go back for another visit.

This is the mother-in-law of the woman having eardrum surgery. She sat in the hallway right outside the operating room waiting for the surgery to be over.

Peanut Vendor.

Dr. Raut.
This man is the secretary of the college as well as a family physician here in Umarkhed, he also is one of the people who takes amazing care of me. Him and his family have become my family here in India.

Bicycle Rickshaw Ride in Umarkhed.

Laxman asked me to take his portrait the other day so he could hang it on the wall in his home. He is by far one of my favorite people here, he only knows a few words in English so I try to talk to him in broken Hindi but mostly we've gotten very good at communicating with each other through hand gestures.

MONDAY

Beth showed Sarfaraz my blog because I wanted to show him that the photo he took of me was on there. He was beside himself and couldn't stop smiling when he realized that there were photos of him there and that everyone back in the U.S. could see them.

We finally got some of the female students to try throwing around the Frisbee. This is exciting because normally the women at the college only come to play sports early in the morning, but this time they were playing right along side of the male students.

Kabaddi Day 1.
Kabaddi is a cross between tag, wrestling and martial arts. There is an explanation of the game farther down on the page.

Pula Festival

Farmers decorate their bullocks with paint, clothes, bells, and everything else you can imagine on this day.

Thousands of people gathered (almost all men) to watch the farmers walk their ox around the Hanuman temple in Umarkhed.
The farmers walked their animals around the temple the same way that people walk around it after they worship the god or goddess.

Trying to walk and photograph in the street was complete chaos.

Somehow I made this photo without there being a hundred people in the background. Everyone wanted to have their photo taken so kids were constantly jumping in my frame when I tried to make a picture, or men were shoving their little children in front of my camera to have their picture taken and shake my hand. It's quite a rarity to have a white foreigner in Umarkhed so everyone wants to meet me. It gets to be a bit overwhelming though when hundreds of people are trying to meet me all at once.

Holy Cow.

Bored.
I tried to find little moments within the mess of people all around.

The man on the right owns this shop and the man on the left is a professor at the college where I teach. The shop owner saved me from the mob of festival goers by letting me stand on a table under the roof of his shop.

Rangoli. (a design drawn with colored powder outside of your home during festivals and other important occasions)

Dr. Raut's Oxen.
After the celebration in town the farmers go to the houses of the land owners they work for so the families can worship the bullocks. Then the family serves dinner to the farmers who have worked hard for them all year.

Ashish, the son of Dr. Raut, gets blessed and Ticka put on his forehead for the festival.

The celebratory meal served on tree leaves instead of plates. You haven't quite lived until you've eaten Indian festival food off of leaves while sitting on the ground on the balcony/roof of a house with a bunch of farmers and an Indian family.

Tuesday

The temple in my back yard.
In this photo you can see the farmers from the village making their way up to the temple to worship with their bullocks.

This stray dog helped himself to the prasad left by the villagers.

Taking and Leaving Prasad.

Leaving More Prasad.

Prayer.

The Best Part of Worship. (eating the prasad)

Some of the ox had beautiful blankets draped over their backs to decorate them for the festival. The design on this blanket is a depiction of Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, and Goddess Paravati.

Mmmm Mmm Prasad in the form of Coconut Covered in Sugar.

Keeping The Pace.
This man set the pace of the procession to and from the temple.

KABUDDI

This description is borrowed from www.kabaddi.org where you can find all the information you could possibly want about the game.

"Though kabaddi is primarily an Indian game, not much is known about the origin of this game. There is, however, concrete evidence, that the game is 4,000 year old. It is a team sport, which requires both skill and power, and combines the characteristics of wrestling and rugby. It was originally meant to develop self-defense, in addition to responses to attack and reflexes of counter attack by individuals and by groups or teams. It is a rather simple and inexpensive game, and neither requires a massive playing area, nor any expensive equipment. This explains the popularity of the game in rural India. Kabaddi is played all over Asia with minor variations.
Kabaddi is known by various names viz. Chedugudu or Hu-Tu-Tu in southern parts of India, Hadudu (Men) and Chu - Kit-Kit (women) in eastern India, and Kabaddi in northern India. The sport is also popular in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Japan and Pakistan.

THE GAME
In Kabaddi, two teams compete with each other for higher scores, by touching or capturing the players of the opponent team. Each team consists of 12 players, of which seven are on court at a time, and five in reserve. The two teams fight for higher scores, alternating defense and offense. The court is as large as that for a dodge ball game. The game consists of two 20-minute halves, with a break of five minutes for change of sides. The kabaddi playing area is 12.50m x 10m, divided by a line into two halves. The side winning the toss sends a 'raider', who enters the opponents' court chanting, 'kabaddi-kabaddi'. The raider's aim is to touch any or all players on the opposing side, and return to his court in one breath. The person, whom the raider touches, will then be out. The aim of the opposing team will be to hold the raider, and stop him from returning to his own court, until he takes another breath. If the raider cannot return to his court in the same breath while chanting 'kabaddi', he will be declared out. Each team alternates in sending a player into the opponents' court. If a player goes out of the boundary line during the course of the play, or if any part of his body touches the ground outside the boundary, he will be out, except during a struggle."

Reaching for the Line.

Airborne.

Karate Kick.

This game gets pretty rough sometimes, but amazingly the players keep their tempers cool.

For the most part this game is just a flailing mess of limbs.

Best and Worst

2007-09-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

On the Outside Looking In.
I made this photo a few days ago in Nanded a decent sized city about 70km from Umarkhed. This washer woman was forced to sit outside of a restaurant to eat her meal even though there were plenty of seats inside. I asked someone why she wasn't allowed in and they told me it was because she was a beggar, though I watched her unroll some coins from her sari and pay for her own meal without asking for the help of others. Then she quietly stood up and moved on.

Ever since my first day in India I've said everyday has been the best and worst day of my life. Some of the worst came from frustrations of teaching, being sick, not understanding what people were saying around me, jet lag, poverty, and just the general craziness of this country. The best came from things like making a difference in the lives of the students I'm teaching, making new friends and family, teaching Ultimate, the amazing food, the colors and spirituality of this country, but mostly the best come from the amazing people always around me.

Now that I've been here almost 8 weeks most days are just the best of my life. And the worst are few and far between though this adventure is not without it's share of frustrations and things that I just plain don't understand. For starters why some people are treated differently than others because of their caste and place in society, but this is a whole other topic that I'm too tired to elaborate on now because it's almost 3:30am and I should be sleeping. I'll just say that ever since I took the photo of the woman above I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and wondering why if she had money of her own to pay for the food why she was still considered unfit to sit inside and eat at tables with the rest of the customers. It's something that will stick with me always and I'll be trying to come to grips with the caste system that is still very much a part of life in India.

The best easy to talk about though...
I made another visit to Rupala yesterday to visit the homes of some of my young Ultimate players. Now you have to understand that I have been playing with these kids nearly everyday for the past month and a half, so they have become a fixture in my life and I in theirs. To the point where they depend on me being out at the field everyday.

One of the boys told me on the day before his birthday that what he wanted for his birthday was for me to pick him for my team in Ultimate that next day. Since I'm the one who divides up the team everyday this should have been an easy request to fulfill, but unfortunately I got stuck at the college late doing some work and never made it out to the field. I later found out that the boy refused to play because I wasn't there to pick him for my team. This basically broke my heart to knowing that he sat on the sidelines waiting for me all afternoon and I had hurt his feelings on his birthday. When I saw him two days later of course the first words out of his mouth were "why did you not come on my birthday?" but I had come prepared with the gift of a Swiss Army knife to try make up a little bit for letting him down. And of course I choose him for my team everyday that he's out there (mostly because he's a good player) not just because I feel guilty about missing his birthday.
It's easy for me to see how attached these kids are getting to me and I to them and it is going to be tough to leave this place in January.

Sarfaraz one of boys from the village called Rupala invited me to his house yesterday to meet his family and see where he lives. I went with him to the village not knowing what to expect since most of the people in the village do not speak English and my Hindi abilities aren't exactly conversational yet. Also I was a bit apprehensive to go into this situation because I have spent tons of time with this kid and I'm sure his parents would have already heard all about me and would have formed an opinion about me, hopefully good but possibly bad. So a little nervous about what I was heading into I followed the boys to the village. On that walk Sarfaraz kept telling me in his limited English that he was feeling very happy that I was coming to his house and of course I felt the same way. Luckily he and I were singing the same tune after the visit as well.

Thankfully my friend Nitin, one of my students from Gawande college, showed up just after I reached Sarfaraz's house. Nitin had seen me going off with the boys and used it as his chance to come see Rupala a place that he later told me he would have never visited if I had not come to India, even though it is only 2 km from his house. But anyways this worked out well for both Nitin and I because he got to see Rupala and I had a translator.

After about an uneventful half an hour of sitting in the house and Sarfaraz's mom making tea for Nitin and I, we were about to leave when Sarfaraz's dad came home. From far away he looked like a very stern man walking home from a long day of work. As he got closer I realized he was a still a quite young man at the age of 36 and very humble and happy to see me. He told me that his son talks about me from the time he wakes up in the morning until it's time to go to school and then in the evening again after we play ultimate. He also told me that before I came to India Sarfaraz never wanted to learn English and said it was too hard, but now he wants to learn and thinks its easy. I found it to be absolutely mind blowing that I have become the reason for this kid to want to learn English, thus giving him more opportunities to have a better life (not to say he isn't totally content with is life because like most people here he seems pretty happy about his life.)

So as I was sitting there talking to this man through Nitin my translator I came up with the idea of teaching English to some of the kids in the village who were interested. Sarfaraz's dad seemed to think this is a good idea, so now I'll be starting classes on Tuesday this coming week. So you can bet there is quite a bit more to come about Rupala and the people who live there.... One other interesting point from the conversation was when he asked me what happens when to Sarfaraz and the others when I leave India in January. I had to tell him I didn't know but I promised I would write and told him that I have every intention of coming back at some point. This is a question that I will be thinking about for the rest of the time that I'm here and will help me push myself to do the maximum amount of good I can while I'm here...

As always I hope you all are doing well and thank you for taking the time to keep up with my journey. Also I opened up the comments so you don't have to have an account to post a comment. So please feel free to comment as often as you'd like.

- Denny

Ok on to some more photos...

Nanded, India.

Visitors to the temple normally just wash their feet in the sacred river next to the Shiva temple in Nanded, but this boy decided to go for a swim and bathe himself in the holy water.

Clothes drying on the steps down to the river where women do laundry by hand.

Puja (Hindu offerings) on the back wall of a temple. After Hindus pray inside of a temple the walk clock-wise around the outside of the inner temple chamber. When they do so they pass the back wall where they sometimes do another type of worship to the god or goddess.

Between the highways and railways India has one of the most dangerous transportation systems in the world. Surprisingly this was the first major accident I've seen since I have been here.

The view from the third floor of Nanded University.

I have no idea what this entrance leads to, but I bet it's somewhere fun.

Auto Rickshaw.

Hostel in Nanded.

Night time in Umarkhed

Tailor in Umarkhed.

At night in Umarkhed you can often find people burning the day's trash on the side of the road.

Hanuman Temple in Umarkhed. I go past this temple every time I go to or from Umarkhed, so I find it strange that this is my first photo of it. I'm sure there will be more to come, there is always something going on there at all hours of the day.

These next few photos are from my second visit to Rupala. During which I decided that I want to try teaching English to the kids in this village.

This is from my first visit to the home of Sarfaraz one of the boys who I play Ultimate with everyday. If you've been keeping up with the blog he's the one in the purple shirt doing a cartwheel or throwing a forehand in the Ultimate Colours post.

I gave my camera to Sarfaraz for him to play with for a minute and he made this photo of me. I'd say it's definitely better than my normal self portraits.

Playing with Light.
These girls were doing with their hands what I do everyday with my camera and my eyes, chasing the light.

Colours of Rupala.

Rupala Residents.

If you look hard you'll see one of the photos from my last post in this photo. It is an incredible honor to go into someone's home here and see a photo that I took hanging on the wall next to pictures of family members, freedom fighters, gods and gurus.

Another dog called Kitty. I haven't quite gotten to the bottom of the origin of this name yet but so far I know that it's a common name for female dogs here.

This is the father of one of my young ultimate players. He works for the education department in Umarkhed driving some sort of vehicle. His family used to live in government housing in Umarkhed, but they moved to the village when some land came up for sale. His is one of the Hindu families in town and right outside their house is the Hanuman temple where the lead photo in Ultimate Colours was taken.

Lorry at the gate of forest department on my walk to Rupala. Lorries are huge trucks that can be seen on the roadway carrying cargo or a hundred Hindu pilgrims. I can always tell when one drives by the college because they have crazy musical horns.

I Got Published in INDIA!

I got my first photo published in an Indian newspaper. Of course it is written in Marathi so I had to have it translated, but it's still fun to see my name under a photo even if it is spelled in Hindi script.
The power went out just before I took this but luckily my web cam can see in the dark.

Here's the photo full size... not the best photo I've made but it was a nice to see it in a newspaper in India.

Ultimate Colours.

2007-09-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

My first encounter with the people of Rupala inside their Hanuman Temple. I made this photo yesterday on my first visit to the village without an interpreter.

I'm sure everyone has noticed that I changed the name of my blog. I thought that Bombay Dreams was a little inappropriate since all of my photos are of rural India. Though many people here do dream of one day moving to the big city in search of a good job so they can support their families but, that's a different story all together.
I decided on Wandering Here and There as the new title because often when I ask the students what they are doing or what they will do on their day off they respond with "wandering here and there." I also feel like that is what I am doing a the moment in my life, wandering the globe in search of some answers about myself and life in general.

This post holds some of the most brilliant colors of clothes and people I have ever seen. It also marks my first trip to Rupala where I hope to spend a great deal of time getting to know the people and telling their stories. Lastly this post gives you a taste of Ultimate Frisbee in Umarkhed. (Frisbee is a trademarked product of Wham-o toy company so from here on out the game I play on a daily basis will be referred to as Ultimate, which is the proper name of the game anyways.)

Namaste,

- Denny

Pet dog in Rupala. This boy along with others from Rupala come out to play ultimate every afternoon. The boys from Rupala have become my guide to life in the village without even being able to speak English.

Friends.

Maybe after some yoga lessons I'll be able to bend like this.

Krishna and Me. This photo was taken by Beth Skabar one of the two other Ohio University grads that recently joined me here in India. You can find her blog at bskabar.blogspot.com.

Ox Herder.

Indian Traffic Jam. In the background on the left of this photo you can see part of the guest house where I live.

Ultimate In Umarkhed
For everyone who doesn't understand the game some of the comments on these photos might not make sense so bare with me. But for my friends who play ultimate I hope you appreciate the photos. It would have been nice if we had been introduced to the game when we were the age of some of these kids.

When we play ultimate there is a wide range in ages of the players. Its not unusual for me to wind up with a whole line, except for myself, under 5 foot tall.

Defense.

We're still working on what a Foul is.

I taught this kid how to throw a forehand a few weeks ago and two days ago he started throwing full field hucks. Though I don't think one has been complete yet, it's only a matter of time before he becomes my best handler.

This next set of photos is from the Shiva temple on top of a hill behind Gawande College. I was lead to the temple by Laxman, the man who takes care of the house and the surrounding area where I live. He wanted us to go to the temple for prasad (prasad is basically the blessed food at the temple given to the gods and consumed by worshippers.) On this particular day there was a special festival for Mahadev (Lord Shiva) so when we got to the top of the hill there was hindi music blaring from a tape player and villagers were lining up for prasad. The were also going through rituals in the temple and at statues around it.

I'm not really sure how this guy got his bike to the top of the hill but I'm sure that it was a rough ride.

The line for the special prasad, using a piece of newspaper as a plate.

Coconut for Prasad.

Praying to Lord Shiva in the form of a King Cobra.

Statue of Lord Ganesh.

Worshippers coming down the path from Mahadev's temple. In the background you can see a trident, this is the weapon that was carried by Lord Shiva.

Offerings to the god.

Colours of India.

Laxman is on the left in this photo, you probably recognize him from some of my earlier posts. He is by far one of my favorite people here in Umarkhed.
On the far right, the man with the white beard, is the care taker of the temple. He is also the man who gives water to everyone who makes the journey up to the top of the hill. Even though we can't really understand each other he is always happy to see me when I make the hike up the hill.

Last but not least are the women inside of the temple worshipping Lord Shiva by covering his shrine with flowers and powder, while burning incense. In the background is the son of one of the women, who is clearly ready to get in line for his sweet treat of prasad.

Hands and Feet

2007-09-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Everytime I take my camera out little kids want their photo taken so I have hundreds of photos amazing Indian children. In the next moment this kid will be enveloped by the hands of the other children who spotted me taking his photo. They are all trying to find their way in front of my lens. This makes it very difficult to make any photos without a horde of children following you through the village and constantly trying to jump into the frame.
I feel like this photo sums up what it must feel like being a kid around here having so many other children and people around that it's nearly impossible to to be in the spotlight by yourself for more than 1/250 of a second.

After over a month and a half in India I feel completely at home here. I teach three classes a day, six days a week at the college, along with impromptu English lessons during the day on the front porch of my house. Almost every afternoon I teach more kids how to play Ultimate frisbee and get some exercise myself.

I hope all is well back home... There should be another post soon.

- Denny

Hanging Around.

Each day around 4pm you can find the kids from the village Rupala climbing in the trees on the playing field across from the college. Normally they're waiting around for me to bring out some frisbees to play with.

I didn't bring out any frisbees this day so they continued to ham it up in the trees.

The kids here all have a slight obsession with America's WWF stars. I feel bad when they ask me if it is real and I tell them that they are just actors and the matches are fixed. It's strange the parts of American culture that have infiltrated Indian culture.

The night time gaurd at the college wanted his family portrait taken when I visited his village. His village is called Nagapor Rupala, it is home to about 200 people and is located next door to the college.

These girls are from the village called Rupala which is near Gawande College. They are always around asking to have their photo taken by holding up their fingers and thumb in a circle around their eye and saying "copy, copy." When I finally raise my camera to take their photo they begin their constant vying for the spot closest to my camera lens.

Students trying out to be bowlers for the college cricket team. I still have no idea what the rules of cricket are and I probably never will. Though for some reason my cell phone gets text message updates every five to ten minutes when the Indian cricket team has a match.

Preparing tea at the college canteen. Tea or Chai is made from milk, water, tea powder and some spices so each pot is just a little different.

Green Chilies (Mirchi in Hindi) waiting to cooked into someone's lunch at the college canteen.

The boys who live in the hostel paste photos and paint religous symbols on the walls of their rooms. Image of the god Dattatra, one of the 330 million gods in the Hindu religion.

Boys Hostel.
Tika... the red mark on the forehead. Used during religious ceremonies and as a welcoming to new guests and for many other occasions... I'm still working on a good explaination. But it happens often and sometimes and if you sweat a lot which i constantly do in this country it gets easily smeared.

Umarkhed.

In Umarkhed a few days ago while I was standing at the shop of one of the college students a police vehicle pulled up in front of the shop. An officer got out and grabbed a man that was selling bananas from a cart in the street and shoved him in the back of the vehicle, then sped off. Everyone on the street went about their business as if nothing had happened, even though someone has basically been abducted before our eyes. A few minutes later two men came and calmly wheeled away the banana cart.

Umarkhed.

Sari shopping is tedious work.

Sari Shop... Sorry Mom, I promise I'll smile in the next self portrait. The red spot on my forehead is called a tika and was put there for a festival called Rakshabandhan. During the festival women tie bracelets on the wrists of men they consider their brothers thus binding them as their protectors.

Krishna amuses himself and everyone else by walking around with a bag on his head.

My new friends... a dog named Kitty.
Very few people keep dogs as pets here but when I find them I am quick to make friends.

Botany professor and his daughter.

When I go into town I am often invited into people's homes for tea and to meet their families. Which means i get to meet the families of all the college professors and play with their little kids. I am the first foreigner that many of the people here have ever seen. This often leads to people staring at me or taking photos of me with their camera phone.

The preacher at the Free Methodist Church in Umarkhed, India prays before taking communion.

I was invited to go to a Christian church service here in Umarkhed. The congregation is made up of two families so there are maybe 40 members. The service was held in the smalles church I've ever seen, it was a room on the top of a house.

Christian hymns translated into Marathi...

I wandered off during the alumni function to try make some photos of the National Cadet Corps students (ROTC sort of) that were hanging out in the back of the auditorium.

Praying to the goddess Swarswati (goddess of knowledge) at the beginning of an alumi function at the college.

When it rains all the giant insects come in the house to visit. This guy was built more like an alien tank than a bug.

Rahul Muneshwar gets covered in flowers and powder by his fellow students after winning the election for General Secretary (like the student president) of Gawande College. I'm proud to say that Rahul is a student in one of the spoken English classes I teach.

It took 3 weeks to get here but the package my mom sent me from the US finally showed up. This mangled box held the key to me being able to connect my computer to a phone line and some much needed snacks from home.

Dial-Up Internet Is Frustrating: Finally an Update

2007-08-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

I'm starting with this photo because it is one of the most recent and because it is my favorite photo I've made since being in India. This little girl lives in the village of Uti (I could be spelling that wrong.. I'll check it in the morning, but right now it is about 4am and I'm just trying to finish up and get some sleep.)

I visited her village this past Sunday and had an amazing experience of rural life here in Maharashtra (the Indian state I'm living in.) After a month of a rollercoaster ride of emotions I am finally settled into my new home and feel like I have learned a great deal about the people around me. Each day here brings new surprises and new challenges. I have found myself more frustrated than I've ever been in my whole life, but at other times maybe even in the same frustrating day I have an amazing and enlightening experience that could only happen here. Rural India may seem to be covered in a layer of dust, but after some time you discover that the people and this culture are vibrant and full of life. This is a huge post of photos and commentary on some of them so I will be brief.

Just know that I am doing well, I am no longer sick and am probably healthier than I have ever been eating only fresh, vegetarian food (except for eggs) each day. I spend my free time talking with the students helping them improve their English and myself improve my Hindi and Marathi vocabulary. Today I taught some of the students how to play ultimate frisbee and they seemed to be having fun and caught on quickly, so I have a feeling I will be playing ultimate several times a week to stay in shape. Tomorrow and each day after I will introduce a few more rules to them so they understand the game a little better.
I hope all is well back in the USA... please continue to send emails and comment on the blog. I hope you enjoy the new photos I feel like they are some of the best i have ever made.

- Denny

This woman was sitting at the exit to a temple begging for money or anything that people could spare as they left... she was only the first in long line of poor people who were either asking for money or asleep on the steps that led down from the temple.

I first passed this woman by without doing anything but then decided to go back and make this photo. When I approached her I pointed at my camera and then at her. I composed the photo and took just one frame.. afterwards I turned my camera around to show her the photo. She then put her hands together and bowed seeming to thank me for noticing her.
I'm still struggling with how to convey what i'm doing to the people that I'm photographing since I speak very little of their langauge.

I also don't know how i feel about just walking up to those who have had an exceptionally hard life and putting a camera in their face. I want to show what life in India is like the good and bad, but I don't want to needlessly those in poverty just to make a picture. Hopefully as I continue to document life in rural India I will come up with a balance and sense purpose in my photos of the people who live here.

This woman was selling clothes on the steps up to the temple. The way up to the temple was lined with shops of all sorts. On her left is a stand selling jewelry and statues of Hindu gods, while on her right is a stand selling pirated dvds and Pepsi. This is truely a country where you can find anything from ancient to modern... the farmers who still plow their fields using ox powered wooden plows most likely have a mobile phone in their pocket that blares a Bollywood (India's movie industry) song when it rings.

Begging on the temple steps...

In India the idea of a swing has reached a whole different level... It seems like a great form of entertainment and during festivals everyone talks about playing zoka (swing)... I tried though i couldn't make it go as high as these girls who have conquered gravity.

Loren Holmes another photographer and classmate of mine at OU arrived a few days ago tries to blend in by drinking chai (tea) and wearing a flashy new headband given to him by our guides for the day.
He and another Beth Skabar have also come to India to teach English and make photos... They will be teaching at GS Gawande college from now until the end of October. While I have lost some of my celebrity status as the only American in Umarkhed, I am more than happy to have some of the attention off of me as the "honored guest." So now I feel like I can move within the community and make photos and be a part of the society without drawing constant attention to myself. Though people still make me stop in the street so they can take photos of me with their camera phones.

Driving is tricky during the monsoon season, especially when you have to share the rode with a herd of goats.

One month old baby in the village of Uti (pronounced Ootee.) This is the native place of Dr. Ram Gawande who has so graciously helped fund my trip to India to teach English and document life in rural India.

In Uti I definitely filled my cute kid picture quota for my entire trip to India.

Mother and daughter sit in the kitchen of their family's house in Uti.

Everyone in Uti was curious to get a look at the American visitors.

Laundry day in Uti.

Making chapati (traditional India flat bread) in a kitchen in Uti.

Uti villagers.

Uti

This mother held the head of her sleeping son steady as we drove along a bumpy road leaving Uti.

Prayer flags near the temple in the photo below.

Flag on top of the temple below.

This temple sits at the base of a hill that was supposed to be hideout of thieves who stole gold from the rich during the time of British rule in India. Rumor has it that there is still gold buried somewhere in the ruins at the top of the hill.

Moths in the lamp light outside the house where Iive. There are no shortage of insects around here but surprisingly and thankfully there are very few mosquitoes.

Temple Entrance.

A face only a mother could love.

Monkeys take food right from your hand at this temple. I even watched one run up and steal a package out of a woman's hand. Monkeys are sketchy and I will be avoiding them mostly because I'm afraid one will steal my camera.

I repeat monkeys are sketchy...

I would cry too if somone was holding me this close to monkeys that were as big as I am.

Beth yields to the requests of the village children to take their photo.

Everywhere I go the first time the kids in a new place see me they follow me around wanting their photo taken.

Lecturers at the college where I teach take tea during meeting on Indian Independance Day.

Self portrait... mostly to prove to my Mom that I'm alive and well... I was standing on top of a temple in the woods when i took this photo... there is a photo of the temple above it is the white one with the priest sitting on the front steps.

This a king cobra that a little man called the "snake friend" thought i would like to see. I was happy to see the cobra but i can't say the same for him because he kept attacking the side of the bottle to try to bite me... the Snake Friend is the man you call when you have a snake in your home. He comes and catches the snake and sets it free in a wildlife sanctuary. I will be going back soon to visit him for an interview and to see more snakes.

Umarkhed at night... 50,000 people live in this town and you can find a shop open at all hours of the night even when if the electricity is out (which is often)... i saw a barber shop that was open at 10:30pm the other day.... I'm still figuring out how everything works here.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to an engagement party.These are the hands of the bride to be. The practice of drawing designs on hands is called "mendhi," different designs are used for different occasions. One of the girls at the engagment party drew a design on my hand that I later found out is usual drawn on a man who is to be married in a few days... that was over a week ago and thankfully no one has come looking for me to be a groom for their daughter.
As at every special event I was served some amazing food and treated like family, hopefully I'm going to be able to attend the wedding in a few months.

Krishna turned 3 years old... and was extremely excited to open his presents and to be in front of my camera as always

Updated Phone Numbers

2007-08-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

Ok apparently the phone number I posted on here is wrong.

to call my indian cell phone from the US dial 011 91 986 026 6389

also please remember that i'm 9 and a half hours ahead of the east coast in the US.... so the best time to call is between 10am and 1pm your time...

This number 1 800 479 6991 is a good way to call me cheaply... but you have to set up an account with a credit card... I think it's 6 or 7 cents a minute...

I will be posting more photos and more about recent adventures later today so check back soon...

Some Old and The Newest Photos

2007-08-08T23:50:00.000-07:00

My first visit to the boys hostel... These students live here on campus and have been a constant in my life for the past three weeks... playing frisbee, volleyball, tennis, and coming to sit on my porch and practicing their English...

I was about to get the shower yesterday morning when I heard a knock on my door and some voices of students outside... It was too early for students to be coming to talk so I went out to see what all the comotion was about. Thoughtfully some of my students had come to show me a lovely snake they had caught. I hope they released somewhere far away from my house...

students playing Kabaddi.... to be explained at a later date... still trying to figure out all the rules of this game

Vegetables from the Market... I have started cooking my own meals at the guest house... for a comfort of home than anything else..

I took a trip up to the Shiva temple behind the college after the rains... The gaurd who watches over the college wouldn't let me go alone mostly because I couldn't explain to him where I was going in Hindi... It was nice to have some company on the trip and he explained to me everything that I was looking at but of course I understood maybe two words...

On the roof of the main building at GS Gawande College

Finally Some Rain...

The fort in Araungabad is a confusing maze of stairswells, chambers, and a moat that was supposedly impenetrable in its time.

(above and below) Ellora is a temple carved out of a mountain from the top down.

These images are from my trip to Aurangabad, The Temple at Ellora, women working at a tree nursery where I had to go to pick up trees and roses to plant at the college. Also the Monsoon season finally started here in Umarked so there are a few photos from the day it rained all day and no students showed up for class... They didn't want to brave the 2km bicycle ride from the town in the pouring down rain..
The rain, hostel, and snake photos are the newest.

Hopefully from now on I will be able to post photos a few times a week...

Namaste.

The Details...

2007-08-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

citizen journalist

The faithful college staff that takes care of me. Slowly we're starting to understand eachother since none of them speaks any English

Ok here's what my life is like in India... I live in a rural part of India called Umarked... about 70km (2hrs by a very scary bus ride) away from the nearest city called Nanded... if you want to find me on a map look for Nagpur (the very center of India) and head south and a little west..

The college campus GS Gawande College is about 2 km from the actual town of Umarked so once everyone leaves for the day I'm at the guest house alone except for a few people who take very good care of me (see the photo above)..

Each day is a new adventure of trying to learn Hindi, adapt to my new surroundings and help the students here learn English...

Currently I have two English classes a day 6 days a week... The students are all very eager to learn and we're struggling through the communication barrier together...

I have finally gotten used to having people constantly staring at me and frequently I find myself surrounded by 20 students who try to speak to me in English. I have become somewhat of a celebrity in this small town... I've signed autographs and two days ago in the market a man made me stand still so he could take a picture of me on his camera phone.

It has been difficult for me to get settled in because for the first week and a half I was sick with a fever and just not very functional... But in the past week I feel like i've totally settled in and I even bought a bike so i can pedal the 2km from the college to the town to shop in the market.

The house i live in is a huge guest house... with two balconies.. 5 bedrooms two kitches, a living room, and each bedroom has its own bathroom.. The house comes with it's own family of geckos to control the insect population... other house guests have included a shrew/rat which i've caught once but keeps coming back... a grey cat who wanders in and lounges around where ever he pleases until i chase him out with a broom... luckily there have not been any sign of snakes in the house yet.

Each day the students come to my house to sit on the front porch and talk with me. The students who have been coming everyday have already improved their English by leaps and bounds just by practicing... So it has been very exciting and rewarding to see so much progress in such a short time...

The photos of the group of little kids are the children of Umarked they come out to a field everday around 4pm to play with the two frisbees i brought with me...

I have so much more to tell all of you but it has been such an emotional roller coaster being in India by myself that it is all difficult to put into words... so I will just leave you with more pictures which are much more interesting and descriptive than my words ever will be...

I hope all is well in the US and please keep commenting on the blog and sending emails....

Namaste. (hello and good bye in Hindi)

Finally More Pictures

2007-08-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

I wish i could upload all the photos I've taken in the past few weeks, but due to a dial up connection i'm lucky to be able to post these few images. Hope you Enjoy... Also anyone who wants to give me a call my India cell # is 0119860266389 and I'm 9 and a half hours ahead of the U.S. so the best time to call is between 10am and noon US time.
Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all.

I Made it to INDIA!

2007-07-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's been an intense few days and i don't have much time to post because i need to catch a train, but i wanted to put up a few images so you can all see india. These pics are from Bombay and Aurangabad...i'll add explainations for the images later..

NYC

2007-07-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from my stay in NYC.. After 6 days in the city i'm ready to move there. Sorry for the change of venue but i can't figure out the password for my old blog so i just created a new one... so spread the word that this will be the place to track my Indian adventure. I don't know how often i'll have an internet connection so blogging may only happen once a week...