Tourism
Bangalore: I found a jewel of library, and M, the world’s best and most devoted librarian, came to play a very important part in that I could continue working on my essay with material from India in Sweden!
In Chennai, people told me that I had missed out on some of the most important tourist sites, but I did not bother that much because I could always tell them about fantastic, strange, hidden and chaotic libraries I’d been to that they didn’t even know existed! And libraries should definitely not be underestimated in getting to know a place – I remember when I was travelling in Mexico trying to find the alleged matriarchy in Juchitán, and the answer was unexpectedly to be found in some hidden shelves in a library that a reluctant librarian finally showed me after I had insisted…
Winter morning
8:05. Light is coming up over Uppsala’s student apartments.
Parallell worlds
The party was partly held in a kindergarden (!).
Boooh!!!
Small Ganesh in Swedish kindergarden.
Is this actually their pooya room?
I guess not. But it is beautiful to see traces of India suddenly in the most unexpected place!
And the blog posts have not been so frequent since I came back. Back in Sweden, nothing was connected to my India life anymore, it felt like being transferred between worlds. And the only proof of having been there was that I could tell people who asked about my experiences, but it felt like almost telling a story that I had dreamt!
But yes, I noticed when coming back that it had all been real. It was so cold! I had told everyone that my country was not so cold! And there were so few people in the streets. And it was so easy to communicate with everyone. And what would I do all alone in one entire room, no roomies around me to watch Tamil singing contests with at night?
Parallell worlds.
No parking
I was so extremely happy to see these cows outside the Greenways road Chennai railway station one day. They were eating grass and not garbage! Heart filled with joy!
Nap
Yep. There must be more two-wheelers than beds in India.
Motion
(Interiors of Bangalore hotel (!) exploring the universe to be found inside my camera during photo weekend)(I did explore Bangalore universe also later on)(The town has some spirit and I never saw some many Indians, or people for that matter, at one time at the main bus stop)(Tried to picture it but of course it was rather impossible) (Even after intensive photo training inside hotel with photography nerds)
Entering the imaginary world
in a place crowded with people (Chennai Central).
Night falls over Kortedala
Surprise! I walk around in Saidapet trying to find a bus to Adyar and I stumble across Swedish pop singer Jens Lekman, his silent and content smile while having his hair cut on a poster in a corner. The wonders of this world! Night falls over Kortedala – an excellent album!
Another excellent Swedish pop song to share with the world (The Wannadies):
Always when we fight
I try to make you laugh
Til everything’s forgotten
I know you hate that
Always when we fight
I kiss you once or twice
And everything’s forgotten
I know you hate that
//
You tell me I’m a real man
and try to look impressed
Not very
convincing
You know I love it
Now we watch TV
Til we fall asleep
Not very exciting
But it’s you and…
… me will – always – be together
You and me – always – and forever
ba ba ba ba
ba ba
It was always
You and me – always – and forever
You and me – always – and forever
ba ba ba ba
ba
It was always
You and me – always – and forever
You and me – always – and forever
ba ba ba ba
babaroah
Night falls over Chennai
I just love the suburban Chennai train. Look, it is like a speedy snake overtaking all the traffic and the whole world at the same time, making you hair unruly with wind.
Back in Sweden
Yep. This is my room.
So I am back in Sweden and I didn’t miss any plane this time!
It is not such a great shock to be back as I thought. Except for that the weather! After having defended Swedish weather as typically un-cold in all seasons except winter I must resign. Air is fresh and autumn colours are as taken from a fantasy. But it is cold!
And as the beautiful henna tattoo on my right hand which M applied the day before I was leaving slowly is fading away, the whole India experience starts to feel like a dream, and since no one here around me experienced what I did I can only recall it from my memory to be sure that it ever happened… yaiks! Displacement is weird, especially since I felt so attached to Chennai and India and every friend and every street and every train station and every city wall painting that I had got to know during almost three months. Therefore, I will continue to upload pics to convince myself that all actually happened, and that it was wonderful!
Playing around
in Shivaji Nagar, Mumbai.
Happiness
Night lights in Pune.
The sweet life as a researcher
One day of all those days as life passes by:
Taking the bus trying to get on before the traffic jam starts at 8.45. Always fail and get stuck eitherways. Luckily Chennai has lots of nice mural paintings; this one I see everytime I head for Egmore.
Hanging out at the Tamil Nadu Archives. Literally wading in books! And today I got to read documentation from 1834 – wooow! Books are so old they are almost falling apart, it is magical to turn the pages and the handwriting is extremely beautiful!
Conducting interviews with people having different views and experiences on my essay topic. Today I met Mr. Veeramani, President of the Dravidar Kazhagam, pro-reservationist.
Waiting at the train platform to get into the ladies’ compartment.
Doing some serious idli researching. I didn’t know that you could buy ready-made idli mix! Ha!
Is this what winner cooking looks like?
I am starting to feel that my time in India is about to wrap up for this time. Because as every time you are about to leave a place, things suddenly go in ultra-speed. I am meeting so many interesting people, I am invited to so many homes and so many positive things are happening. I feel it is very beautiful and good for me to be here with a mission, a mission to understand Indian society and reservations in depth. I am happy to feel that I have a mission to try to understand something very complex and bring knowledge back to my home country. And as happens with the course of time, I am finally moving about in Chennai as it is my own town, enjoying contacts and friends already made. And at the same time as I am learning more about Indian society, caste and politics than I could imagine!
Mom…. I got tattooed
(Thanks V for letting me portray your hand!)
India 