Darjeeling & Varanasi

Our second stop of our Indian odyssey was Darjeeling, which turned out to be my favorite city of the entire trip. I can't begin to describe the beauty of the Himalayas and the kindness of the people there. We drank tea around the clock. Almost every shop and restaurant boasted an astonishing view of the mountains and valleys below since the city is built on a mountainside. I loved the smell of the mountain air, tea bushes and clouds.

After Darjeeling, we went up to Gangtok for a few days. Then we went to Varanasi for 5 days... we actually got stuck there after two failed attempts at getting a train. Varanasi's largest festival happened while we were there and it was nearly impossible to get out of town without hiring a car. We wound up shelling out extra cash for a flight to New Delhi and had to cross Udaipur off our itinerary. From there, we went to Agra and Jaipur and then returned to Delhi for our flight to Paris.

Look. Drawings.

Kolkata

That was a long break but I've been buried in work, busy with vacation planning and holidays, and was out of the country for a month. I visited India for 3 weeks and spent 5 days in Paris on my way back for no other reason than a mere 4 hour layover there seemed kind of absurd. Our first stop in India was Kolkata (Calcutta) where we spent 3 days. I'm surprised I got so much drawing done there but my sketching dwindled more and more with each new location.

Kolkata looks like it's being reclaimed by a jungle. Trees and plants sprout from every crack they can get a hold in often breaking up walls and roofs. The air is moist and spicy just like every book I ever read set in India described. I'd heard about the insanity of the traffic there but it was something I really had to experience to understand. Motion and color permeate your entire field of vision. The best chai I'd ever had in my life up to that point was had in a silk shop in New Market.

Here are Kolkata drawings.