On a Palshicruise

It's only now that I truly feel like I am on my way home. Only a couple minutes into our flight, and the lights, glitz and squalor of Mumbai have been left behind as our jet races over the Arabian Sea. Briefly I spotted the lights of a cargo ship reflecting off the water but even that faded into the night, slipping over the horizon.  With a murmured "Goodbye Mumbai," my visit to India truly feels done. The one big difference this visit from other visits is in the past there has been this feeling of finality. When I was 10 years old, I had no real control over when or how I might return. Years later when I was 18 years old, I had some degree of autonomy but no true financial ability to return. Another thirteen years after that, I was lucky enough to have a brief visit but as a father to young children, raising them was the top priority for both time and money. Now it's different. My children are adults, now. They made space in their lives for in...

I'm not afraid of flying. I love flying! I'd like to get a pilot license some day! But when flying, I do feel vulnerable. I understand why early flight attendants were required to be nurses because anything can happen in that metal tube sailing between heaven and Earth. The only people there to help us is the flight crew.  I'm mentally preparing for 22 hours of flying, leaving at 0200 and flying west, chasing the sun, with a stop in Amsterdam, arriving in Portland at noon. It will be a 36 hour day. But I don't mind time zone silliness. What has me worried is geopolitics. Flying to Delhi involved flying to the Black Sea just west of Ukraine, and then along the Black Sea, past cities that have become notorious, such as Odessa and Zaporizhzhia, and over waters were Russian forces launch hypersonic missiles. The other half of my travel party that left a week ago had a flight alteration because of increasing hostilities between Israel and Iran. Again, I completel...

Set on a mountain top surrounded by wilderness sits the Tiger Fort, one of a chain of fortifications that the Marata armies captured. The Government of India placed warning signs to beware of big cats, including tigers and leopards. The word for leopard directly translates to "Spotted Tiger" so I can confidentiality say that tigers have been spotted near this fort! (Too much of a dad joke?) The complete opposite of Janjeera in many ways, except the availably of fresh water. Sinhagad was a huge sprawling fortification, on the top of a mountain. It was captured by Shivaji and the Marata army and became a key fortification in a chain of forts overseeing the valleys below. Over the years, many of the walls, fortifications and cannons have been lost, unlike Janjeera. But true to any good fortification, both forts had ample supplies of fresh water. Sinhagad had spaces for elephant bathing and watering, horse watering as well as a clear spring that is safe to human consumption to th...

The unconquerable fortified city of Janjeera, still standing from the golden age of sail. Built over a 20 year time period in the late 1500s, this city protected the harbor from attacks from other groups within India, as well as the Portuguese and British.  For as imposing as it is, I kind of expected it to be a little larger. With thick armed stone walls fully encircling the island, a land attack was literally impossible. Even when we are invited, coming ashore nowadays is a bit of a trick! Cameras were banned for that portion, and I understand why. It's not the average museum door. There is no dock at the island, so the boats back up to stone steps, and visitors have to time entering and exiting the boat with the roll of the waves. Even with museum staff assistance, more likely than not, at least one foot will end up in the water. It is not for the feint of heart, and one family on our boat with a little child said they were not getting off. I suspect the only way to capture this...

Today's goal is to visit the World Peace Dome, featuring statues recognizing thinkers, scientists and religious leaders of the world in an effort to promote peace and dialogue. I'm dressing up for the occasion, but might regret wearing all black! Even with the various little setbacks of travel we made it to the Maharashtra Institute of Technology campus and were directed to the guard shack / ticket booth where we were informed that all tickets needed to be bought online, and that foreigner tickets were 500 rupees a piece! The guard finally got permission from his supervisor to take cash and we were allowed inside.  Now, I fully admit that there was one statue in particular that I came to see. Last year's press related to the unveiling of a statue recognizing the contributions of the American religious leader Joseph Smith was the only reason I had heard of the World Peace Dome.  I was surprised at how much more is in the World Peace Dome: the importance of scienc...

As I visit friends and family in India, I cannot help but consider the public health and public policy implications of what I am seeing: multi-generational households, aging in place, meals cooked from scratch, as well as the physical benefit of involvement in religion and worship. These things allow the people I visit to live a high quality of life well into their ninth decade.  Only now are Western style nursing homes beginning to appear, but most individuals and families feel the cost is too high. It can be difficult to provide home care or hire caregivers, but most families I have spoken to feel aging in place is a better choice.  I am beginning to feel that qualitative research comparing prospectives on aging could yield valuable insights.