“do you want to have a beer?...” – One of yesterday’s campers invites me for a beer, actually I’ve been invited several times whenever I pass by them…
Once again I can’t stop, this time I’m driving back from my last shoot, and I’m urging to get back on time for receiving a new carpet the shop is delivering… Yes, I do have a home and I do go there sometimes… It’s also true that most times when going back I think more about the next time I’ll leave than regarding what I’ll be doing there... But I’m trying hard to have it decorated before retirement age…

I drive slowly through the last kilometers of dirt road, before touching asphalt after spending almost two days out of it…

Almost painfully, details and photo opportunities seam to jump in front of me out of nowhere, although it’s around noon the light looks as good as dusk or dawn… Just like the beer I was offered some moments ago I have to let go and force myself not to stop…

As my speed increases on major roads, fields with flowers turn into color patches that make me feel like I’m driving through a dream… I’d like to have the opportunity to remember whatever comes to my mind at these times… “Maybe I should record my thoughts as Galen Rowell did…”

Still, although feeling miserable with the departure I can’t help admitting how lucky one must be just by being able to live as I do sometimes…

“are you the owner of this land?...” – Two campers ask me if I own the land where they had just mounted their tents…

It’s almost the end of my second day in Noudar… I’m alone shooting in this remote place, and at this point I’m trying to entertain my mind until my last attempt at doing star trails is finished…

A good and bad thing in this location is that I can bring my car to almost every spot and use it as kitchen and living room while hopping that long exposures will make miracles on my film or digital sensor…

“heck, today it’s cloudy and there are no many miracles to be expected… Well this will be a fairly good reason to come back here…” - I think to myself while eating an orange under the moonlight… - “but at least I’m here, what else could I wish for?...”

Sometimes I tell myself that I should take advantage of these moments and think more about life, but my mind seams completely void of any thought… More than shooting I’m making use of my ability of not thinking about much for a change…

"no clouds, not to many flowers, spring is really late this year and considering the wind I wont be much lucky with macro's"... - A good thing about spring time is that I can leave the office and still have some time to drive somewhere and create images...
My mind is bubbling is ideas for the next days... And at the same time destiny seams to be organized in to conspiration for not letting me go out... The balance from what pays bills and gives me the chance to be what I am and the time I have for doing what I like is a constant field of conflict...

Every day, the sun raises and sets in a different way, tides change, big amounts of sand and stone move from place to place, seeing only a part of this feels like not witnessing life in itself... Today I'm in one of those days I can't keep from looking the rain falling outside and feeling that I'm loosing the best part of it...

"where are you?" - a friend asks the same old question when exchanging emails... It's a fact that for those that do not see me quite often it's difficult to know how much do I travel or not...
It's a fact that with time, trips loose their special character... Some people walk or drive to their jobs, I also do, but sometimes I also take an airplane... This is so natural that I even stopped warning my family of my whereabouts... The problem rises when the percentage of people feeling as I do is only a small slice of the world population, and others feel insulted by this detached behavior of mine...

Wherever I am and as thrilling as my adventures may be, there are always the ones I miss and remember about... And so are the places I always end up going back to when I get back home, these are my sanctuaries, and although I seam to always be creating the same old images when I go there, there's something different in the emotions I bring back home...

"i see that your photographic instincts are not driven by the beauty of what you're shooting..." - Valentin observed that although we where far from being in a perfect place I could still find what to shoot...
It may look strange, but if you look at my photo albums you probably won't find straight images of monuments or any man made land mark people look for when traveling somewhere... I don't know the explanation for this as I don't avoid these shots, I just think that there's always something else catching my attention.

My inner visions of India are more bound to people and movement than to any other detail... Even now after coming back home my biggest regrets are for not having the time to experience the contact with common people for more than a couple of hours...

The looking glass effect I described before, takes time to go away and a couple of hours outside the controlled environment of offices, cars and hotels is not enough to let go of initial fears and let destiny lead the way...

"yes, sir you are allowed to take as many snappers as you wish"... - I had asked if I was allowed to take pictures of a temple and as always, India proved to be one of the most photo friendly places one might think off...

I'm used to expect some people to see me as a threat whenever I show up with my camera in hand... In India, people see me, but instead of fear they show the same level of interest on who I am, where I'm from and what I'm doing, that I have regarding everything I see...

From my interaction with people, and the explanations of some local friends, everyday I find out how different cultures and time evolutions can render basic instincts completely different... From my limited time here I see that the more I know, the more I understand that I'm not even close to figuring the real meaning of some of my images...

"tomorrow is a national holiday in India, we wont be coming to work, but you may come if you wish to"... - Guess what, my birthday is new year's day according to the Hindu Calendar!...

To be honest, I usually feel like disappearing on my birthday, so being out of home is almost the best option for pretending that this "one more" year just didn't pass... And actually, if I count this way I'll probably still be bellow thirty!!!...

Frustrating as it might seam, not even on a holiday I had the time to go out... I'm in my third day in Hyderabad's Hitech City and for the first time in India, if I just look at the hotel, and the office, it almost feels like I'm in the US... Heck!... What a good way to travel somewhere and not being there after all...

"you are not entitled to use a sit belt in here"... - It's probably the first time I travel on the front seat of a car in India, and here's another difference that just makes me think about the the distance between the several worlds I travel by...

Later in the same day, I hear something like: Surf or even going into the sea water is perceived as something dangerous here, most people will not even consider doing it... I never understood danger to be relative, but I come to the conclusion that just as we filter what we see we also filter through our perception of danger...

People here seam to be protected by some kind of special luck that prevents cars from bumping into each other and people being ran over when crossing the street... I never thought about this before but maybe this same luck also protects people in the rest of the world whenever they push their own limits... Whatever dangers there migth be...

"sorry sir, it's past 11 pm, we can't serve alcohol anymore"... - The waiter in the hotel restaurant let's me know that I can't have a beer with dinner...


Once again, I've been spending too much time around computers, cables and dark server rooms than standard health care principles should allow to any human being... I keep on seeing everything from the confort of cars air conditioning during trips to and from the office, and yes, I'm not creating the images I'd like to...

Still and even on the most casual situations I keep on finding my questions and doubts around matters I'll probably never have the time to understand about this country... It's like being reborn again and going back to the age when everything is a novelty, but this time I'm to ashamed to keep on asking why for every new piece of information, every minute...

"sorry to disturb you mister... please contact our ground staff regarding your luggage... we're affaid it's not on the plane"... - 15 minutes before landing the flight attendant let's me know that for some strange reason my bag stayed in Frankfurt...


Well... This sounds familiar... But still unusual, we are not on August 12'th and I didn't even do a transfer, so there must be some cosmical conspiracy that dictates something like this: me x India = lost luggage...

This time things go surprisingly well... All paperwork is done and waiting for me to sign on arrival... I'm given an indemnization w/o having to ask for it... I still had to go shopping, but ok everything looked to be ontrack... The bag was delivered to me in the hotel, w/o damage a little bit more than 24 hours after landing... at 5 a.m!!!...

And this brings me to one more thing that is impressive about this country: shedules... India does not stop over nigth... Some companies just follow US tizeones, others just don't stop... There's a mixture of efficiency and chaos in here that just troubles my mind...