Two weeks ago I took a business trip to Chennai. I booked my tickets late so the outbound seat (pictured here) was a seventh the cost of the bougie return ticket. Since it is the Indian equivalent of Fall right now I thought "No AC? No Problem!" But I didn't anticipate the windows only having bars for cover, and an afternoon cloudburst had found its way into the car. So upon stepping into my train car I encountered a massive puddle where I was supposed to sit. I intended to capture the questionable conditions of my train car in the above photo, but the afternoon light filtering through the door makes it look rather romantic--the only indication something is amiss is the ladies covering their face with their sarees. I wonder if they're currently quarantined for H1N1...A few more pictures of the scenery en route to Chennai:
This is one of the tech parks on the outskirts of Bangalore: an anachronistic compound of over 20 eerily identical buildings. A shocking lack of branding makes me wonder if they're in use, and if they are, whether everyone inside goes about the same tasks simultaneously, citizens of an Indian Camazotz. *
But most of the ride showcased rice paddies and mountains and monkeys playing on the rooftops of deteriorating Hindu temples. My images of farmland didn't turn out well, since all these snaps were taken with my iPhone. But I think this shot of a little railroad town is sweet. (Again, the black lines are the bars on my window.)
*Camazotz is the fictitious planet of extreme, enforced conformity, ruled by a disembodied brain named "IT" in Madeline L'Engle's children's book, A Wrinkle in Time. Thankfully, IT has been a catalyst for change and innovation in India, rather than the oppressive force of L'Engle's world.
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