India: A Glimpse Beyond the Window
My first trip to India happened just before lockdown. I joined an organized tour through Rajasthan, Delhi, and Varanasi. Two cameras in hand: one digital, one analog, and rolls of Kodak Gold 200.
Sitting on the plane flying back, I promised myself I’d return. This time with no itinerary and no return ticket.
Spoiler: I did. I went back for six months, but that’s a story for another day.
Udaipur Upsidedown
India was the first stamp in my passport, and it was love at first sight. I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel far from home.
I was invited on the “Magical India” tour: Rajasthan, Delhi, the Taj Mahal, and Varanasi. It was exciting to be there, but in a way, I felt like I was seeing the country through the window of a car.
The days flew by, and with each place we visited, my desire to return grew stronger. One afternoon, on a little street in Udaipur, Babu told me: “Live the moment, and good things will come around.”
I hold those days close. I fell in love with India’s eyes, the light, the rhythm of the journey, and the strange comfort of feeling at home in a place so far away.
For a little over twenty days, I carried two cameras: an analog Canon and a digital one. I never looked at the digital photos again. But the analog ones (developed just days before the lockdown) seem to have captured that initial crush: the golden light, the familiar-yet-foreign daily life, the superstition, the belief that everything is possible.
The girl in the photo by the ghat now fills me with tenderness. If only she knew that four years later she’d be boarding a one-way flight to Bombay with no fixed plans…
She’d probably smile and say something like that girl in Pushkar once did:
“Peace be with you.”
