Along NH8

I've been collecting photos along the road for a couple of months now. Today's shot made me decide that the time is ripe for posting.

I'll start with animals:

Here's today's contribution: chickens and veggies on the move.

While we've seen occasional horse carts on NH8, this time the horses were galloping, and doing a pretty good job of keeping up with traffic.

A horse cart being transported. These elaborate carts are mostly used for weddings.

This mobile shrine included a cow and calf.

Moving on to agriculture:

India needs vast quantities of marigolds for celebrations of every kind. (With marigolds harvested, this field will be planted in rice during monsoon.)

I couldn't get my iPhone camera to focus properly, but you get the idea of how agricultural fields are periodically burned over. I am amazed that these fires are contained. The surrounding land is filled with bone-dry vegetation, and there's no water around for fire suppression. Yet I haven't heard or seen of any "wild fires".

Now for landforms:

Between Vapi and Valsad is a quarry that is gradually consuming this substantial hill. (Of course, quarrying a mountain out of existence is not unique to India. In Virginia, Willis Mountain, near Dillwyn, is being similarly consumed by kyanite mining. And "mountain top removal" coal mining is an extreme example.)

And finally, an interesting camera artifact:

My out-of-focus camera not only gave blurred photos, but gave everything a slant. Apparently the exposure was long enough that the movement of our vehicle made the truck slant forward as the scene was scanned. (I wasn't even trying to take a picture of the truck -- I think I was trying to get the "chicken man".)

And that's the way it was on NH8.

Vasai Fort (Bassein)

Lon had business in Mumbai today, so I took the opportunity to visit Vasai Fort (also known as Bassein). The fort is a large Portuguese fort north of Mumbai on the north side of Vasai Creek. That's "creek" as in a large estuary. It's 550 m wide where NH8 crosses it, and even wider by the time it gets to the fort, which is pretty much on the Arabian Sea.

Vasai Creek. The remnants of the fort wall can barely be seen at the far left.

The remaining walls of the fort are clearly visible in this satellite view from Google Maps. Sites 1 through 3 are the major ruins. Site 4 is the jetty where the picture above was taken.

The site is under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India, but it's clear that this is a low priority site. A modern temple, a cricket pitch, and a good bit of housing have encroached the site -- most likely before it was deemed worthy of preservation.

The Portuguese built this fort in the early 16th Century, and it became their northern headquarters. It was conquered by the Marathas in 1739. The British took it over in 1780, but returned it to the Marathas in the Treaty of Salbai in 1783. I can find no mention of when it was abandoned, but clearly it's been many, many years!

The road-side view of the ruins at site 1 on the satellite view above.

Our driver, Sachin, and his family.

Same view, but yours truly replacing Sachin in the photo!

More ruins at site 1.

Site 2 starts with an impressive (but difficult to photograph) church, and continues into a large open area (parade ground?).

This area has an active well. The woman is using a plastic jug to get water for laundry.

Site 3 also has a substantial (but smaller than site 2) open area.

More ruins (site 3).

There's a lot more here that is just too difficult to photograph, including a tower that's about 20 m tall. It's really difficult to give a proper view of this amazing place.

On the Street in Vapi

For the last month or two, freshly prepared "wafers" (we would call them "chips") are all the rage in Vapi. The veggies are cut, fried, and seasoned each day.

Frying the banana wafers.

Adding masala and packaging the wafers. The bags get sealed by melting the bag opening together on the side of the cooking wok. Note the green bananas in the background.

And while I'm on the topic of green bananas, a few bungalows have their own banana tree.

On to other topics:

Water jugs at the Jain temple in town. The porous terra cotta jugs keep the water cool. Indians can pour water directly into their mouths from a cup or bottle without touching their lips to the cup/bottle. I've tried, but all I get is a shower!

The yellow-flowering trees (see previous post) cover the ground with their flowers.

Our secretive neighborhood cat hanging out on the roof of our neighbor's carport.

These sure look like geese to me, but my bird book doesn't have any summer-resident geese in this area, and it seems a bit late for migration.

The photo below is the reason you should not include any plastic in your recycled paper. (Please don't use a plastic bag to wrap your newspapers when you recycle them!) This mountain of plastic trash comes from another paper mill in Vapi -- it's what's been removed from corrugated cartons and other recyclable paper before it is pulped to make new paper. It's just across the "canal" from MWV's mill, and it's the view from Lon's office.

 The man at the top is hosing down the pile hoping to keep it from catching fire ...

… which it did in June 2014.

Blooming Trees

As monsoon grows closer, India "greens up". Right now it seems that just about every tree is in bloom.

Jacarandas along Gunjan bazaar

One thing that has surprised me is how tropical trees have been spread across the world. India is full of trees from Brazil and Africa that arrived many centuries ago. The widely-planted jacaranda (above) is from Brazil.

The sausage tree is a transplant from Africa. The flowers open at night, then fall off by morning. The flower cluster above has mostly bloomed, but you can see a remaining flower bud at the left. The name of the tree comes from the large sausage-shaped fruits that hang on the tree for many months.

The dark red sausage tree flower. I picked up this one from the ground under the tree and brought it home for identification. There's no other tree with a flower even close to this!

Originally native to Madagascar, the gulmohur (also known as flame tree and poinciana) is found throughout India.

Another gulmohur blooming in Vapi.

Amaltas (also known as Indian laburnum) is a showy native tree.

Walls

Something there is that doesn't love a wall
   — Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"

But in India, everyone loves a wall -- and not the low crumbling wall of Frost's poem, but high brick-and-cement walls that hide everything behind them and block both views and passage.

Over the last four months, additional walls have appeared in our "society" (neighborhood). Walking into town has now become less convenient, as the best route is now blocked by an 8-foot high wall.

Good fences make good neighbors is the other famous line from that poem. One fragment seems particularly relevant to India:

Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.

In India, walling out is the dominant mode. No offence given or taken. Certainly cows are walled out, as opposed to walled in. Inside the wall is a sense of privacy and comfort, at the expense of viewing the outside world. Fortunately, our bungalow has an iron fence rather than a full wall. But that is the exception.

In the photo above, the new wall is in the foreground. It makes a dead-end out of what was once a difficult-to-traverse, but open, road. The middle section was completed earlier this year, and the left-most segment appeared while we were gone in December. The biggest rationale is that the road you see is the service road along NH8 -- the busiest highway in India, connecting Mumbai and Delhi. (Think "I-95".)

Just before I left in early April, the wall in the photo below was built across another access road into our society (photo below). The building on the left has been under construction for at least 2 years, and this access point was blocked by construction materials, construction worker living quarters, and a large ditch. It was passable on foot, but not by vehicle. With the completion of the exterior of the building, the road was improved, and became vehicle-ready. So I guess that's why the wall went up.

At least this wall has a pedestrian access point. I think that's because the owners of the hospital whose parking lot this accesses, live in our society.

(And in case you're wondering, there is one remaining access road into our society, but it has been turned into a "cul-de-sac" rather than having through-access.)

Appalachian Spring

I leave to go back to India tomorrow. That's tough, because spring with its delicate colors is my favorite time of year in the southern Appalachians. Right now, the landscape changes daily as the trees flower and set out new leaves.

Today's view from our kitchen table. Just a week ago, this was all brown and leaf-less.

It's been cold. Yesterday I went to Gaudineer Knob in West Virginia. At 4300 ft (1325 m), it is much higher than our home in Virginia, and our light rain was a snowfall at this elevation.

The dramatic view from Gaudineer Knob.

Flowering dogwood (a tree) is the state flower of Virginia. It's in full bloom right now.

White dogwood blossoms blend with emerging red oak and green dogwood leaves.

I love spring!

Virginia USA

It's been a while since I've made a post. I've been back in the US for a bit more than 2 weeks now.

April is spring: erratic weather and lots of green happening.

Dramatic clouds ...

… and a rainbow after the storm.

"Pot o' gold" anyone?

My favorite view in all of Alleghany County -- near the top of North Mountain on I-64.

A particularly brilliant blue jay feather.