Photos, Part 1

The night lured me on, and I decided to take another walk along the great avenue that ran beside the docks. It was a zone of calm. In the sky the stars burned silently. I sat at the foot of a huge tree, a statue of the night, and tried to make an inventory of all I had seen, heard, smelled, and felt: dizziness, horror, stupor, astonishment, joy, enthusiasm, nausea, inescapable attraction. What had attracted me? It was difficult to say: Humankind cannot bear much reality. Yes, the excess of reality had become an unreality, but that unreality had turned suddenly into a balcony from which I peered into -- what? Into that which is beyond and still has no name... " -Octavio Paz, Visions of India

Hana and I on our bike ride through the craggy hills around Pushkar - one of the most charming places on Earth.

Devotees of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti gather for worship at His Dargah in Ajmer, Rajasthan

Brendan, Mary, me, and Dave after waking up in the Thar Desert during our camel safari. I suddenly understand why there are so many legends about genies and sorceresses and magical beings that come from desert lands - there is something truly mystical about it.

A cow saunters by some traditional Rajasthani fabrics in Jaisalmer.

A young woman and her son look out over the Great Thar Desert towards Pakistan.

Dusk - my favorite time of day in India - at the Jaisalmer fort.