Dawn breaks over Sukna, a small village in the foothills of Darjeeling. This is where my mother lives. This is where I was born 40 years ago, when elephants used to trundle down the dirt road in front of our house. Times have changed. Now young men walk the dusty lanes transfixed onto their cell phones just like anywhere else in the world.
In my previous post I mentioned Dussehra, the biggest Hindu festival of India, which happened to be underway as I arrived in the country. Traveling eastwards, where Darjeeling is located, I fortuitously moved into the epicentre of the celebrations - West Bengal, the "home" of Goddess Durga.
kEverytime I return to India it is as if I have never left. A few moments after emerging from the airport, I am swept into the heat, dust and chaos that feels so familiar that I soon forget there is anything else but that.
