One-year anniversary of kissing the old life goodbye
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under notes
I still don't know the name of that fruit
It’s been a year to the day since I officially started My Backpacking Life and hopped an international flight from Chicago. I’ve been on five different continents since then, produced a small amount of reporting, bummed about working when I could, volunteered as a teacher in rural India and a conservationist in rural Ecuador and smiled too much for my own good.
I encountered the limits of freelance journalism and discovered that I don’t have the hustle necessary to pay the bills that way. I also learned that I want to play a more active role in helping the planet and its huddled poor. I’m ready to take off the neutral observer hat and put the gloves of a fighter (even if it means going graduate school).
I became what amounts to a dual citizen of both the U.S. and India. I’m moving back to Delhi for another extended (indefinite?) stay in a few weeks.
I learned to dive, fell in love with the sport and became obsessed with the oceans. I can’t now foresee a future where I’m not diving regularly. I learned how much I love sea turtles.
I’ve taken more than 16,000 photos.
I lost more than 52 kilograms (about 115 pounds). I had become incredibly overweight and was eating and drinking myself to death. Now, I’m vegetarian and rarely go near alcohol. I jog and am seriously contemplating running a half-marathon yet this year.
That’s not to say I don’t miss people and places and things from my old life. I have many fond memories and no real regrets.
But in the photo above, I am tired, sweaty, muddy, smelly and sucking on the remainder of a strange jungle fruit in the Ecuadoran Amazon. I’m also immensely happy with that new me.
Tags: ecuador, india, photography, shenanigans, tourism, volunteering
Hola de Ecuador
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under notes
Pintura
So I’ve run out of pictures from the times in the U.K. And while the blog sputters a bit, enjoy my Shuar guide Enrique painting my face.
I’m on the coast now enjoying lazy days of seafood and diving. Galapagos in a little more than a week.
Tags: ecaudor, en la selva, enrique, environment, facepaint, shenanigans, shuar, volunteering
Ecuador or bust
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under notes
Friends,
As many of you know, I’m headed to Ecuador now for a couple months for volunteering with some conservation and community development programs in the Amazon. I’ll mostly be disconnected and that’s definitely bittersweet.
But my project is 50 kilometers from the nearest place to use the Internet. And I’ll actually have full-time work on which to focus.
This blog will sputter a bit on auto pilot as a result. For a while, you’ll be treated to a daily photo of street food from Thailand. Eventually, I’ll power down. My Twitter account is likely to stay updated more, but even a mobile connection will be questionable.
I will post more regularly when I can, but I expect that won’t be until late August at the earliest.
Viva Ecuador.
Tags: ecuador, volunteering
Published: Darjeeling hills of tea ready to boil?
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under notes, photography
Face
I spent time in Darjeeling at the end of May reporting a political magazine story on the tension in the Gorkha movement after the leader of a smaller separatist party was killed in daylight near a crowded market. That story was published this month in a Delhi magazine and is available online now. The full-text version is also available here.
The photo above is from a massive political rally in Darjeeling the weekend I was there.
Tags: bimal gurung, darjeeling, gorkha, gorkha janmukti morcha, gorkhaland, india, journalism, madan tamang, photography, politics, published
Published: Mining giant bills itself as eco-friendly?
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under notes
My reporting from Madagascar last fall has finally been published. Globalpost.com picked up the story of the Rio Tinto mine that claims to be environmentally friendly.
The company has laid out an ambitious — some say impossible — environmental agenda in exchange for the rights to mine strips of coastal land for titanium
The Web site ran one of my photos as well. You can also see my entire gallery here.
Critics of the mine say its attempts at conservation and community development are little more than window dressing to procure mining rights. Indeed, the mine does have a lot of work yet to do, but it does have some NGOs on its side; time will tell, I suppose.
Tags: economy, environment, ft dauphin, journalism, madagascar, mining, photography, published, rio tinto, titanium
And we’re back… briefly
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under notes
Thailand was blur of diving and food and photos and fantastic new friends. More about all that later.
I’m in Delhi for not quite two days before I head for Sikkim and teaching. I’ve got loads of errands to run in the interim and some friends to see and a giant bag to repack, so I don’t expect to be blogging until I get settled back in near the Himalayas. (Though I may post a few fun photos from the travels last month.)
My parting shot is at the drunk, airport cabbie who took me on a three-hour extravaganza today in the midday heat because he apparently doesn’t know any (and I mean ANY) major landmark in South Delhi. Not Sarvodaya Enclave, not Mother School, not Hauz Khas village, not PVR Saket, not Aurobindo Marg, not IIT, not Qutub effing Minar.
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: delhi, india, sikkim, thailand, tourism
My latest scheming (in Thailand)
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under notes
At present, I’m in Thailand and trying to stay disconnected. Something about good food, diving and adventures makes that easier.
But here’s an update on my latest plans. A friend recently deemed me “a bum with an agenda.” Read below; the label fits. Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: delhi, ecuador, environment, food, india, island, scuba diving, sea, sikkim, thailand, tourism, volunteering
