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.

I have said it before, that a festival is not what I expected when discussing a trip to Palshi. Even though I had been told that there would be a festival, I kind of thought it would be a few extra decorative flowers and extra decorations by doors or something. Those were there, but my dad started describing what he remembered: humor "for men only" in the morning, transitioning to family entertainment of singing and dancing, with bullock cart races, and wrestling for prize money. In all these decades since my father was able to attend, I guess there was no reason to change a good thing!  Arriving in Palshi, we did learn of one unfortunate change: bullock cart races were cancelled this year. Last year several carts had crashed and racers were injured. I am not sure if they were referring to human or bullock racers, probably both. This was something that I was really looking forward to, but I understand protecting and promoting lives, both human and bovine. It also looked like ...

It has been more than thirty years since I have visited our ancestral village of Palshi. I was young then, and did not understand what I was seeing, but remember the ancestral home built with sturdy teak timbers I remember the dirt streets and a deep well that my father and his siblings would dive into as children. Even though I was a child, I was struck with my longing to connect with the people, left with a determined feeling that I must return. As years have passed, I have heard stories about returning to the ancestral village presented in different ways. It may have happened that our family was forced to sell the land and the villagers feel shame or even mild concern that we may desire to reclaim our ancestral land. My brother said he went back and got a polite reception, with locals understanding who he was. I am told the local Brahmin is friendly with my cousin and the family that live in the ancestral house are friendly as well. My cousin said there is even a contested hectre of...

I have to admit the first time it was suggested that I would sleep on the roof, I wasn't sure what to think. That first night there was still the music and firework noises from the street party and mosquitoes. The party calmed down eventually and my oldest and I liberally applied bug spray. Bugs like to bite Josh everywhere he goes and sadly India has been no exception. Bug spray generally  helps for a few hours, though. Sleeping with a rug as my mattress is not soft, but has turned out to be pleasant. The cement house holds the heat, so the rooftop cools more than the inside, and I really enjoy listening to the birds chatter. They do calm down at night and then start talking to each other in the pre-dawn light, with chirps, chitters and caw-cawing. The crescendo peaks at sunrises and then settles down as birds leave their roots and disburse for the day. We have also seen bats, silently winging through the night. There are large fruit bats (it's mango se...

My kids have given me a lot grief about dysentery. Kind of ironic because our travels will lead us to Oregon in a matter of days. Thankfully we had plenty of concerned family, air conditioning, and access to the needed medicines. It was so wonderful to see my aunt and cousins again. We were starting to feel under the weather before arriving at my aunty's, so even though she was worried about how sick we got, there is no way she caused it. She did ensure we were in good health before we left, otherwise she would have had the doctor come to the house and give us IV fluids.