India and Kumbh Mela - here i come.

It's been about a year and a half since I've been back from India. Since that time - intern year flew by, I moved to New York, started a new life, learned that radiology residency is awesome and scary due to the amount of material one must learn, got married - therefore it is time for me to head back to the motherland once again (you can click on older posts at the bottom to see posts from the last trip). Before I get emails about why you weren't invited to the wedding - realize its a joke, it never happened.

Heading out tomorrow evening if the snowstorms agree with those plans. The goal this time is to do some serious photography. Last time I shot with a canon rebel that I had borrowed from my uncle. Now that he is in California and I am more than a drive from there, I had to purchase my own camera (here is a pic from the new camera - CLICK ME.). The rebel is a very beginner camera, but I am going with mildly serious equipment this time - credit cards to the rescue. I have a Canon 5D (next time it will be a 5D mark II, but damn thing is way too expensive) and a canon 24-70 mm f/2.8L. That just means that this is a serious lens - one of the best canon makes. It cost more than the damn camera.

Today as I started to think about this trip (I don't plan too much, it interferes with my relaxing way of life and I was so busy that I didn't even have time to think about it until yet), I realized that I might have to shoot from afar so I should have a longer zoom lens. That runs about $2000, and since that's out of the question as even my credit card company is going to call me crazy at this point, the other option was to rent one. But it was too late to rent one online, where prices are somewhat decent. And the big camera stores in NYC are closed on saturdays! Go figure. So in a last minute effort, I called a bunch of places, found one that was open and then when he quoted me more than twice the online price, I swallowed hard and negotiated down the price almost 50% - so I now have the canon 70-200 mm f/2.8 IS L also. It's on! ---For those who are going, Oh Sumit! (you know who you are) - believe me things always work out in the end (usually).

Tomorrow I will pick up the knick-knacks - hard drive, rain cover, filter, etc. and then cry a bit about the amount this damn stuff cost me. I did call my insurance company today and insured everything just in case a brother in the motherland "borrows" my stuff (god I hope not).

So what's on the Agenda this time:

First off is a marriage - Shilpa. She is technically my cousin's cousin. In fact, she is cousins with all my cousins, from my mom's side and my dad's side, but is technically not my cousin. Its really weird. And yet no blood marriages anywhere - one day I am going to have to diagram the complex relationships out.

The very next day (feb 10th) I am headed to the Kumbh Mela - what is that? Kumbh Mela is a holy festival, which is celebrated when Jupiter moves into the zodiac sign of Aquarius (and I am an Aquarius, so I should go, that's my simple logic). It is the largest gathering of people anywhere in the world and happens every 3 years rotating through 4 different Ganges bordering cities. The Maha Kumbh Mela (every 144 years) was back in 2001 and over 60 million people decided to show up. Damn! The holy pilgrimage has been happening since at least 600 A.D. and continues. Wiki it! This time its in Haridwar and the Kumbh mela goes from Jan 14th to April 28th. For the record, this is the festival in which the two brothers are always lost during childhood in many old Indian films and are reunited 20 years later because of the matching necklace they both wore right before they were separated. Classic!

Feb 12 is a big day - Maha Shivratri (Lord Shiva's favorite day and the first Royal Bath at the Kumbh Mela). What this means is that about 5 million people will be in this small little town. I couldn't even get the train tickets to go to Haridwar and the roads may be closed from what I hear - so not exactly sure how I will get there just yet. But I will be there - we'll just have to see how. And hopefully will find a place to sleep (though my cousin says he may have a place arranged for me) - that will be a plus. Hopefully all this will work out too! Jai Ho! (now go watch slumdog millionaire if you have not seen it).

At the end of the trip, my plan is to hit up Holi - the festival of colors. I am going to go to Mathura and Vrindavan, where Lord Krishna was born and spent his childhood. In Vrindavan, the people get started with the festivities a week ahead of time, because - why not?

In the middle of the trip, I will travel to Calcutta (yes its kolkata now, whatever). I will just move around Calcutta and do a lot of photography - still need to research all this out. The rest of the middle is unplanned, I will let the wind take me where it may.

So that's it for now. Hopefully, I will be able to post while on the road. I suppose I have to pack now (or maybe tomorrow, yes tomorrow) - this is my least favorite part of any trip. I do have a suitcase already so I am a lot further ahead than usual (thanks sis).

I will leave you with these two quotes (Abraham Lincoln & Elbert Hubbard) - "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." "Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive."