Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Math Books in India!

Motor Rickshaw
This morning, we heard a knock on the door and when we opened it we saw a friend from Alaska.  We had arranged for him to come earlier, but we were not sure it was going to work out.  His name is Ivan Bacon.  He is a photographer and he will be traveling with us on the Rickshaw Rally.  I plan to learn from him and get better at taking photographs.  Sadly, I could not talk to Ivan for very long this morning.  I had a lot of school work to do and, unfortunately,  I did not focus very well.  It took me until 4 or 5 in the afternoon to complete my work.  However, I was ecstatic when I was finished.  After my work was done, I went with the gang to eat an early dinner. 

We walked into a simple local restaurant with a series of round marble-top tables and quickly recognized that it was a Muslim restaurant.  All of the Indians dining wore Muslim attire.  This consists of a light, white, long robe and a white cap, small and shaped almost like a origami hat.  When we were seated, Ivan talked to me about photography and gave me some tips.  We all ate with our hands and were served curry and chapatti.  Chapatti is a small thin wheat bread that one uses to scoop up the curry.  We had a delicious meal and then wandered to the Gate of India. 

I am not sure of the history behind the Gate of India, but the architecture is amazing.  This is a large stone archway overlooking the bay.  On the top of the archway are written the words “Commemorating the Landing of King George and Queen Mary MCMXI”.  I think this refers to when the British occupied India during the nineteen hundreds.  We walked into the huge square crowded with people, and before us was a towering gate made out of stone.  On the top of the archway, there were two turrets.  Looking the other direction away from the archway, there was another cool building, with the top illuminated with lights.  A couple years ago, a terrorist group bombed this hotel and also killed many civilians in a nearby restaurant. 


We walked passed the Gate of India and onto a dock looking out over the ocean.  There were several boats leaving and coming in for it was already getting dark.  I started to worry about getting my blog done at a reasonable hour, so we walked home and ended our second night in India.  India, so far, does seem a little chaotic and loud, but more impressively, I find it interesting. 
 

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Rohan,
    Good to know you are in Mumbai and that you will be having a friend traveling with you in India.
    I didn't know that you would be visiting Mumbai. A lady in my spanish class is from Pune, a little east of Mumbai. Last week she talked (in spanish) about her family and growing up in Pune and Mumbai. And my yoga teacher was in Pune for a month last summer where she attended yoga classes run by BKS Lyengar's grand-daughter. BKS, who is now in his 90's, supervised while hanging from a bar. Must have been fascinating!
    As usual, I enjoyed your pictures.
    Love, Grandma Doris

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  2. I was a little confused there for a second -- I thought you were referring to what they said when you got off the plane. Mmmbye.

    Sorry, that's all I got. Been a long day...

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  3. Hey Chopper. Do you know what the British used to say when you get off an airplane? That's right, "Bmmbye". Now it's Mmmbye...

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  4. Doris,
    That is so cool! What did she say it was like growing up in pune?

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