During the Durga Puja in Udaipur Kailash makes a different chalk drawing on the street each day of the festival.

Each drawing has a message. This particular deals with the issue of Indian parents seeking abortions when they discover they are going to have a daughter.

Kailash feels that men and women should be treated equally.

I recorded the music from the window of my hotel room…

The multimedia piece I put together for the Foundry workshop made it’s way onto the liveBooks Resolve blog along with a piece by fellow workshop attendee Dhiraj Singh who I must say I am hnored to be recognized along with . Check it out.

In other news I’m back in Delhi which means Internet access is once again readily available. I have a ton of photo and video to edit together in the next couple of days and should be bombing the blog with it shortly.

In the meantime here’s a still that didn’t make it into Vroom Vroom:

I have to type quickly because my laptop is dying and the Internet connection in Leh is incredibly slow but… here’s a project I just finished on Enfield motorcycle culture in Manali India. Check it out!

Also if you take a look at the top of the bog you’ll see that I’ve added a work section. Take a look if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve been up to for the past few months.

Independence day is here and once again I’m off the continent. For the last three years it’s been this way but I guess I shouldn’t complain.

Joshua and I spent the day searching lower Dharamsala for various bits of Americana and after a long arduous search managed to find American flag bandannas, fireworks and a big bottle of Pioneer brand whiskey. Woo hoo!

The evening will be spent sending sparks into the sky and consuming lots of booze. Hell yeah ‘Merica.

Here’s a photo series of Joshua and I ritually sacrificing a 150 rupee ($3) can of Budweiser to start the day off right. Hope everyone’s Fourth is joyous…

Continuing the trend of errands mixed with photo hunts today Adam and I struck out to take care of business cards for Joshua and I. Unfortunately he was unable to tag along as Delhi belly decided to strike in full force leaving him incapacitated in the apartment. I still haven’t gotten my bout of it yet but I’m sure it will come and I get a bit nervous each day that it doesn’t.

We finished our and errands and were trying to figure out what to do when the sky began to darken. I thought it might be rain but it instead turned out to be a dust storm which I hear is typical before the monsoon. The air took on an orangish hue that recalled the film Dune and my mouth and nose were filled with grit. Watching bicycle commuters valiantly battle the gusts was pretty interesting.

Here’s a bit of what I saw:

So this blog existed before with a few nice posts detailing the road I’ve traveled and where I’m at now, but through misuse of FTP I killed it. Alas. So here’s another try.

Let’s catch up…

In brief, I used to live in Tampa Florida but I live in India now. I’m trying to pursue a career in freelance visual journalism along with my close friend Joshua. We got to Delhi a few days ago traveling from Tampa to New York City to Munich to here.

India can be an intense place, it’s hot and crowded and dusty and full of bizarre things that just don’t seem to make any sort of sense. I was here for about three months last year and found much of it very confronting. The sensation is different this time. I guess I’ve just sort of learned to accept the heat and the things that I just can’t control or understand.

My friend and Delhi host Adam Huggins has been a great help, showing us places I didn’t think could exist in this nest of chaos.

Last time I was in Delhi I thought the place was terrible. I spent my one night in the backpacker haven of Paharganj and was pretty much through with the place. My room was windowless and lacking AC which during July in India feels like a special circle of hell. On top of that the touts were fierce trying their best to “fix” my sandals and sell me useful things like bullwhips and pinwheels.

Today Adam, Joshua and I revisited that dusty nest of wires and hippy-dressed Westerners during our walkabout of the city. This time around I laughed at the fact that I had spent any time there at all. After seeing other parts of India’s capital it seems to me that the people at Lonely Planet are playing some sort of devious trick on naive backpackers by suggesting they go there to stay.

Needless to say Delhi is far better the second time around and I look forward to seeing more of it before we head up into the mountains to start working.

Here are some pictures of Delhi