Fashion Nation

So what are the cool kids wearing? This was something I'd never seen in India on any of my previous trips. Indian hispters! Weird. I've always associated India with traditionalism, or at best, a very cheesy approach to modern style. But I was walking around a popular shopping area called Connaught Place and saw punk-rock stripes, skinny jeans, trendy scarves and chuck taylors...might as well have been Wicker Park. Globalization of style, perhaps?

On a related note, I think that some of the most stylish stuff is actually worn by the really poor rickshaw drivers and working class because they're not trying. Simplicity. I'll post more as I shoot them (as long as I don't get smacked for snapping shots of random girls on the street...good thing my mom's walking around with me).

Hello moto

The Royal Enfield Bullet. This is the standard issue motorcycle in India. In the 60s and 70s these used to flood the streets. Little less common now, but still as gorgeous as ever. My dad had one of these when he was my age. His was black, but this one in mustard yellow is pretty tasty. I tried to have one until I fell off and broke my wrist on a learner before I got the chance to get one of my own. After coming across this one I'm tempted to try again. In case you didn't hear, motorcycles are cool!

more sidewalk vendors

Street Goods

Sometimes the best deals are found on the streets. This lady is selling embroidered pillow cases, sheets and shawls. This is the stuff you'll see at Crate and Barrel or whatever for $40 plus. Out here...200 Rupees...$5. And no, you can't get fries with that.

Punjabi chappals. The mother lode.

Pizza girl

My sister doing her best Vanna White to indicate that (1) they have Papa John's Pizza in India, and (2) they deliver.

Henna Art

There we're dozens of henna artists lining the sidewalk of the shopping area we went to. Indian tatoos everywhere.

Shopping Madness

A central shopping area in Delhi. A lot like Canal Street in NYC.

I jump in...

I couldn't resist the street vendors despite my fears of delhi belly. This guy was doing a fresh-squeezed blend of pomegranate and mosummi juice. A mosummi is like a cross between a lime and an orange. Flippin' fantastic, especially in the 85 degree heat. The pics in order from the top: (1) Mandeep sees possibilities at this stand, (2) Mandeep wonders if he should really be drinking this stuff, (3) After the first swig, Mandeep is shiny and happy...seriously...you can't tell with that stupid look on my face but that shit was good.

Street Food!

One of the greatest things about India is its street vendors. They're everywhere. The guys in these pics run a snack shack similar to so many others all around India. They make deep fried samosas, pakoras (like veggie tempura), and chaat...an absolutely awesome sweet, salty, spicy plate of fried wontons served with chick peas, yogurt, mint sauce, tamarind sauce and a bunch of other tasty garnishes...or as Lisa and Melissa from DWR call it...Indian nachos. Word!

Shopping for a punjabi suit

Rack's of 'em. Ever wonder why Indian weddings are so colorful? Places like this.
Mom, sis and dad taking forever to make a decision.

Venturing Out

After shaking off the morning sleepiness, we all decided to head into town to do some shopping in the city. My sister needed to buy a salwar kameez (usually called a punjabi suit for short...basically a very ornate long, dress-like top with matching pants) for the wedding (cousin's getting married in 4 days). Anyway, as soon as you head out, you can't ignore the traffic in Delhi. A sea of it. Cars, trucks, jeeps, 3-wheelers, scooters, motorcycles, bikes, ox carts, cows, stray dogs, you name it...all on the street jockying for position and constantly coming within inches of smashing into each other. No one really obeys red lights, there are no lanes, and right-of-way is determined either by the size of your vehicle or by the constant cacophony of tooting horns excusing each other through. Some pics to help you get the gist.

More morning balcony

The neighbors.

Holy Cow

Yes, it's true, cows do roam the streets in India. This one was just wandering our street like a stray dog. It actually stops outside of people's gates from time to time and they come out and feed it bread or roti (kind of like stove-top naan). Pretty amazing thing to see when you first wake up half-way across the world!

Morning in Delhi

Ahh yes, finally here and sort of rested. Although, the eyelids are still a bit heavy. Woke up around sunrise to see that the city was already active. We're staying with my aunt an uncle who just bought a new place in a residential community just outside of Delhi...the Indian burbs. Their flat is on the second floor, and they have a balcony overlooking the neighborhood. Here's some shots from this morning.

Touchdown

So we finally made it after the long flight. I don't think people are meant to be trapped in a plane for 14 hours...not entirely fun, but probabaly better than a layover. Cool thing is that the plane was tricked out with an entertainment system behind every seat...menu of movies, TV shows and games. I killed much time by watching No Reservations, The Simpson's Movie and playing Tetris (whadya say, vww?).

We left at 8PM Chicago time and landed at 9PM Delhi time (the next day). Needless to say, I was jet-lagged beyond belief, ans still am as I write this post the next morning. Got out of the airport and the first thing I noticed is that it smells like India...in a very good way. It's hard to describe, but despite only going back to the country every 4 or 5 years, it still remains a very familiar scent....jasmine flowers, exotic plantlife, food cooking, traffic pollution, sewer stench...all in the same whiff. I know, sounds like a potent concoction, but that's India.

Take-off

40 minutes till boarding. Me and mum snaping a shot of each other before the flight.

TV Time

Since I just got cable TV this August after about 5 years of not having it at all, I have to say there's some really good shows on the air, particularly on some of the new HD channels.

The sundance channel's got a great show called Iconoclasts. It's an interview/documentary show with odd pairings of public/pop-culture folks. The last one I saw had Dave Chapelle sitting down for a chat with Maya Angelou. Before that it was Eddie Vedder and Laird Hamilton (surfer). Currently playing as I write this: Alice Waters from Chez Panisse and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Well done show. http://www.sundancechannel.com/iconoclasts

Some others that I've been really into lately are VH-1's Storytellers and Sundance Channel's Big Ideas for a Small Planet (and Project Runway is a guilty pleasure).

Alright, time to get back on track with the trip...thanks for hearing me out on my digressions!

More green stuff

So the keynote speaker at the conference was Bill Clinton. I'd never seen him speak before, and it was certainly interesting to witness such an iconic public figure's personality translate through a massive room. Aside from doing "PR" work for Hillary right now, he's working with his foundation to help retrofit existing buildings to become more energy-efficient via partnerships with key corporations.

The keynote speaker at the 2002 conference was Dr. David Suzuki. He's a Canadian scientist (biologist) who's an international leader in the green movement and used to have a public TV documentary show. He spoke for about 2 hours at the 2002 conference and got a good 10 minute standing ovation. Brilliant and inspiring guy. If you haven't read his stuff and are interested, definitely check out his website. I've read "From Naked Ape to Superspecies" and highly recommend it.

www.davidsuzuki.org

Building Green

So this doesn't really have anything to do with my trip, but I was at the opening day of the Greenbuild conference today and thought I'd relay some info. The conference is organized by the United States Green Building Council, which developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for buildings...basically a measure of how "green" a building is (and a large part of what I do for a living).

So this conference is a mass gathering of architects, designers, engineers, building owners, utility companies, students, scientists and so many others from around the world. The last time I went was 2002 in Austin...it was really fresh and exciting then because it was the first year of the conference and, really, the beginning of the movement toward building green in the states. This year the attendance number that was kicked around was about 18,000. That's probabaly about 5 to 6 times the attendees from the 2002 conference. Still fresh and exciting because the movement is growing beyond anyone's expectations. So I wanted to capture the mass of people in these pics. Take what you see and multiply by 100. It's good to see this stuff becoming more of a cultural shift than a niche interest amongst industry folks.

So here's some links for those of you interested in learning more:

www.usgbc.org
The USGBC's main website. Good place to start.

www.usgbc.org/LEED
The LEED wesbite. Click on Resources for a big list of green links.

www.greenbuild365.org
This site was just launched today and is meant to be a green education hub. I'm sure we'll see this grow over the years.

www.treehugger.com
A great non-industry site on all things green. Lots of good info for everyday use on here.

Enjoy!