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
A taste of India on a Logan square street
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under photography
Ahhhh, paan, my weakness
Missing all things India, while in Chicago, I made Kelly drive us up to the Desi section of Devon Avenue. We perused markets and walked past windows of gold jewelry and saris and smelled spices that transported me home. And then we finally found what I had wanted most: paan.
Kelly also became my victim, because she agreed to try paan — my kind of paan, tobacco paan — without really knowing what it was. I explained a bit about tobacco and betel nut and offered to get her the mitai version, but she wanted to have whatever I was having. Kel is brave, longtime friend.
From a little convenience store we got it wrapped to-go, after I surprised the paanwallah by ordering in Hindi.
I also explained that I would document her eating it for blogging purposes. The photos below are the outcome of that fun afternoon experiment on the street outside her apartment in Logan Square.
Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: chicago, devon avenue, india, paan, photography, shenanigans, wallah
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
The divine hand
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under photography
Reverence
From Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand.
Tags: art, bangkok, history, india, photography, statue, thailand, wat po
Jai puppy
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under photography
Gorkha dog
I recently spent a few days in Darjeeling reporting (real, live journalism!) on political tensions surrounding the Gorkhaland movement. A week before I arrived, a minority party leader was assassinated in the street.
The town was still covered in the typical green and white Gorkha colors and other than a good bit of shouting and lots of paramilitary forces, cooler heads prevailed. That story is set to run in July in a magazine.
In the mean time, I give you the above green scarfed dog.
Tags: darjeeling, dog, gorkha, india, photography, politics
The mighty Kanchenjunga range
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under photography
Kanchenjunga (right) at sunrise
Himalayahimlayahimalayahimalaya.
Pelling offers so many good photos. So easy to take them. Continue reading this entry » » »
Tags: himalaya, india, kabru, kanchenjunga, mountains, pelling, photography, sikkim, tourism
I among the things I love: lemon tea
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under photography
Heaven in a glass
I wish man could by lemon tea alone. A Darjeeling dhaba offers peace.
Tags: darjeeling, food, india, lemon tea, photography
